I consider it an absolutely marvelous problem that there are so many C++ conferences
I can't go to them all! There are a number of smaller conferences that draw primarily
from one country or region, and more meetups than I can keep track of. I'm open to
talking at a meetup if I happen to be traveling to a city for business anyway, but
I don't think I can get up above 5 or 6 conferences a year, especially if some of
them involve keynotes, plenary sessions, or workshop days. It's a lot of work!

Hope I get to see plenty of people in these various places,

Kate

Latest Speaking Schedulehttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=629fc891-e1ae-4f51-ad56-0a6d491ecb04http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/LatestSpeakingSchedule.aspx
Sat, 09 Jun 2018 20:24:48 GMT<p>
Here's what's coming up over the next few quarters:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
August 27-30: <a href="https://ndctechtown.com/speaker/kate-gregory/">NDC Techtown
(two talks)<br>
</a>
</li>
<li>
Sept 23-29: <a href="https://cppcon.org/">CppCon </a>(<a href="https://cppcon.org/engage-entertain-educate/">preconference
day</a>; main conference talks not yet announced)</li>
<li>
Oct 18th-19th: <a href="https://pacificplusplus.com/">Pacific++</a> (two talks)</li>
<ul>
<li>
Submissions are still open so if you want to join me in Sydney as a presenter, get
on that!</li>
</ul>
<li>
Nov 15th-17th: <a href="http://meetingcpp.com/2018/">Meeting C++</a> - I will <b>not </b>be
speaking here (I just can't fit it in), but I want you to know it's happening</li>
<li>
Feb 4th-6th 2019: <a href="https://cpponsea.uk/news/dates-and-keynote-speakers-announced.html">C++
on Sea</a> (keynote at this brand new conference)</li>
<li>
April 2019 - ACCU (nothing announced yet, but I plan to be there)</li>
</ul>
<p>
I consider it an absolutely marvelous problem that there are so many C++ conferences
I can't go to them all! There are a number of smaller conferences that draw primarily
from one country or region, and more meetups than I can keep track of. I'm open to
talking at a meetup if I happen to be traveling to a city for business anyway, but
I don't think I can get up above 5 or 6 conferences a year, especially if some of
them involve keynotes, plenary sessions, or workshop days. It's a lot of work!
</p>
<p>
Hope I get to see plenty of people in these various places,
</p>
<p>
Kate<br>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=629fc891-e1ae-4f51-ad56-0a6d491ecb04" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=629fc891-e1ae-4f51-ad56-0a6d491ecb04C++Consulting LifeSeen and RecommendedSpeakinghttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=1022b4a7-8ad2-4f3f-9218-1d2deff5e617http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=1022b4a7-8ad2-4f3f-9218-1d2deff5e617Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=1022b4a7-8ad2-4f3f-9218-1d2deff5e617http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=1022b4a7-8ad2-4f3f-9218-1d2deff5e6172

I spent much of the spring working on this course, and am delighted to see it live!

Visual
Studio 2017: Essentials to the Power User is 7 hours of good stuff you need if
you're a Visual Studio user. My emphasis is on keeping you happy and productive by
getting the tool to help you and showing you neat features you probably didn't know
about. If you open that link in a new tab, you can play the course overview (a 2 minute
"trailer") and look at the table of contents. I've done versions of this course for
older Visual Studios and I get comments like "It's as though I have a whole new IDE"
and "I've been using Visual Studio for years and you showed me things I didn't know,
and I'm glad I do now."

I think debugging in general is not taught enough, so I'm happy to have 2 whole modules
on it here - not on philosophy of debugging or how to narrow down a bug, but just
on how to operate the machinery of Visual Studio's debugger. There's lots of it. Plus,
if you have Ultimate, there's another half a module on "Historical Debugging", IntelliTrace.
I also spend quite a lot of time on how to find your way around a large codebase with
the various searching, finding, navigating and exploring capabilities that have evolved
over time.

Here's a quick topic summary:

I really enjoyed writing this course and hope you enjoy watching it. If you need a
free trial, look over to the right on this page for the grey rectangle that says Author
and click for a 10 day trial.

Kate

My Visual Studio 2017 course is livehttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=1022b4a7-8ad2-4f3f-9218-1d2deff5e617http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/MyVisualStudio2017CourseIsLive.aspx
Sat, 08 Jul 2017 14:40:45 GMT<p>
I spent much of the spring working on this course, and am delighted to see it live!
</p>
<p>
<a href="https://www.pluralsight.com/courses/visual-studio-2017-essentials-beyond">Visual
Studio 2017: Essentials to the Power User</a> is 7 hours of good stuff you need if
you're a Visual Studio user. My emphasis is on keeping you happy and productive by
getting the tool to help you and showing you neat features you probably didn't know
about. If you open that link in a new tab, you can play the course overview (a 2 minute
"trailer") and look at the table of contents. I've done versions of this course for
older Visual Studios and I get comments like "It's as though I have a whole new IDE"
and "I've been using Visual Studio for years and you showed me things I didn't know,
and I'm glad I do now."
<br>
</p>
<p>
I think debugging in general is not taught enough, so I'm happy to have 2 whole modules
on it here - not on philosophy of debugging or how to narrow down a bug, but just
on how to operate the machinery of Visual Studio's debugger. There's lots of it. Plus,
if you have Ultimate, there's another half a module on "Historical Debugging", IntelliTrace.
I also spend quite a lot of time on how to find your way around a large codebase with
the various searching, finding, navigating and exploring capabilities that have evolved
over time.
</p>
<p>
Here's a quick topic summary:
</p>
<p>
<img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/teaser[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12].jpg" border="0">
</p>
<p>
I really enjoyed writing this course and hope you enjoy watching it. If you need a
free trial, look over to the right on this page for the grey rectangle that says Author
and click for a 10 day trial.
</p>
<p>
Kate<br>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=1022b4a7-8ad2-4f3f-9218-1d2deff5e617" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=1022b4a7-8ad2-4f3f-9218-1d2deff5e617Client DevelopmentMentoringSeen and RecommendedVisual Studio 2017http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=44ea286b-5d0e-4dca-b4be-e8426a4fa2f8http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=44ea286b-5d0e-4dca-b4be-e8426a4fa2f8Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=44ea286b-5d0e-4dca-b4be-e8426a4fa2f8http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=44ea286b-5d0e-4dca-b4be-e8426a4fa2f81

I've started a C++ column in Visual Studio Magazine. I'm sure you've read plenty of
C++ columns in your time - I sure have! I wanted this one to be a little different.
So, here's what I've decided to do. For each column, I choose a guidelines from the
C++ Core Guidelines, and then explain it. But the twist is that I'm not going through
the guidelines from top to bottom - I'm picking guidelines whose explanations require
a little language knowledge.

The
first column just sets the stage and explains what I'm doing, and gives you a
link to the Guidelines. The second, Don't
Cast Away Const, explains the guideline, but also the consequences of const-correctness,
a typical situation where you might find it hard to stay const-correct when you make
a performance tweak to a running system, and the correct use of the mutable keyword.
Not bad for explaining a four-word guideline!

I have a number of columns already written and plans to write more. Please check them
out and spread the word!

Kate

New Column in Visual Studio Magazinehttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=44ea286b-5d0e-4dca-b4be-e8426a4fa2f8http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/NewColumnInVisualStudioMagazine.aspx
Fri, 29 Apr 2016 21:17:26 GMT<p>
I've started a C++ column in Visual Studio Magazine. I'm sure you've read plenty of
C++ columns in your time - I sure have! I wanted this one to be a little different.
So, here's what I've decided to do. For each column, I choose a guidelines from the
C++ Core Guidelines, and then explain it. But the twist is that I'm not going through
the guidelines from top to bottom - I'm picking guidelines whose explanations require
a little language knowledge.
</p>
<p>
<a href="https://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2016/04/19/intro-to-cpp-core-guidelines.aspx">The
first column</a> just sets the stage and explains what I'm doing, and gives you a
link to the Guidelines. The second, <a href="https://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2016/04/26/dont-cast-away-const-in-cpp.aspx">Don't
Cast Away Const</a>, explains the guideline, but also the consequences of const-correctness,
a typical situation where you might find it hard to stay const-correct when you make
a performance tweak to a running system, and the correct use of the mutable keyword.
Not bad for explaining a four-word guideline!
</p>
<p>
I have a number of columns already written and plans to write more. Please check them
out and spread the word!
</p>
<p>
Kate
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=44ea286b-5d0e-4dca-b4be-e8426a4fa2f8" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=44ea286b-5d0e-4dca-b4be-e8426a4fa2f8C++C++ GuidelinesMentoringSeen and Recommendedhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=f52cd6c4-c8fd-4801-b8d1-71cb980beef6http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=f52cd6c4-c8fd-4801-b8d1-71cb980beef6Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=f52cd6c4-c8fd-4801-b8d1-71cb980beef6http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=f52cd6c4-c8fd-4801-b8d1-71cb980beef6

The first
keynote at CppCon this
year was Bjarne Stroustrup (who invented the C++ language) announcing the C++
Core Guidelines. They are on Github and once he announced them, as Herb Sutter
reported in the second
keynote the very next day, they quickly became a trending topic across all languages.
Here is a description of the guidelines from there:

The C++ Core Guidelines are a collaborative effort led by Bjarne Stroustrup, much
like the C++ language itself. They are the result of many person-years of discussion
and design across a number of organizations. Their design encourages general applicability
and broad adoption but they can be freely copied and modified to meet your organization's
needs.

The aim of the guidelines is to help people to use modern C++ effectively. By "modern
C++" we mean C++11 and C++14 (and soon C++17). In other words, what would you like
your code to look like in 5 years' time, given that you can start now? In 10 years'
time?

The guidelines are focused on relatively higher-level issues, such as interfaces,
resource management, memory management, and concurrency. Such rules affect application
architecture and library design. Following the rules will lead to code that is statically
type safe, has no resource leaks, and catches many more programming logic errors than
is common in code today. And it will run fast - you can afford to do things right.

To me, these guidelines are the key to getting across my fundamental message that
C++ does not have to be hard, scary, complicated, or dangerous. The language may still
say “it’s your foot!” but the guidelines, and the tools they can drive, are quite
the opposite.

You probably know that Visual Studio has a static analyser built in. (You should,
anyway, I’ve blogged about it.) It will catch things like this:

int* p = nullptr;
*p = 10;

But it doesn’t mind things like this:

int arr[10];
int* p2 = arr;

Two lines, two violations of the guidelines – I’m not initializing any of the elements
of arr, and then I am using its address as a regular old pointer. Now, there’s nothing
wrong with regular old pointers – some people have got quite a hate on for them with
the rise of genuinely smart pointers, but pointers are fine. Using pointers to control
lifetime isn’t fine, because it’s impossibly difficult. But pointers themselves are
fine. What’s not fine here is the “decay” of an array into a pointer – folks from
other languages don’t expect that at all, and some marvelous bugs have hidden behind
this simple bit of helpfulness from the compiler. So there’s a guideline that
says don’t do that. Specifically:

(I’m giving you a picture of code because if you want to copy and paste you should
go to the live, always updated, guidelines on github.)

This guideline is part of a “profile” – a particular set of rules that are designed
to be enforced and that are supported by tools. Well, when I say tools I might
be overstating the case a little. There’s just one tool at the moment, but that could
be enough!

This tool, C++ Core
Checker, is on the NuGet Gallery. You don’t have to get it from there though.
You get it, and use it, from inside Visual Studio 2015. Any version will do. If you
don’t use Visual Studio normally, just get and install the Community Edition, which
is free and is ok to use for commercial purposes, from https://www.visualstudio.com/
. (Need the fine print? if you’re using it as a person, you can do whatever you like.
If you work for a company with less than 250 PCs and less than a million dollars US
in revenue, again you and up to 4 of your coworkers can use it for whatever you like.
If you work for an “enterprise” company then any and all of the employees can still
use it for learning purposes or to work on open source.) Note that Visual C++ isn’t
part of the Typical install, so you’ll need to choose Custom and select Visual C++:

So once you have Community Edition or some edition of Visual Studio, make a console
application and put in the two bad lines of code. Build it and then also run static
analysis on it (On the Analyze menu, choose Run Code Analysis, On Solution.) You won’t
get any warnings or errors. That’s your pre-guidelines life. You’re doing something
inappropriate and nobody is telling you.

Now, add the checker to your solution. This is solution-by-solution, not a change
to how Visual Studio does static analysis. On the Tools menu, choose NuGet Package
Manager, Package Manager Console. In the console window that appears, type Install-Package
Microsoft.CppCoreCheck and press enter. You will
see output like this:

Where it says "type.5" and there's a link, that's to the specific rule in the "type"
profile that this code breaks. And where it says "bounds.3", the same - I showed a
picture of bounds.3 up above.

Isn’t that great? Come on, it’s great! The tool will add more rules as we move through
2016. I’m going to have a lot more to say about the Guidelines as well. But this is
a great place to start.Why not point it at some of your own code and see what happens?

Kate

C++ Core Guidelines and Checking Toolhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=f52cd6c4-c8fd-4801-b8d1-71cb980beef6http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CCoreGuidelinesAndCheckingTool.aspx
Mon, 07 Dec 2015 18:54:57 GMT<p>
The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OEu9C51K2A&amp;index=1&amp;list=PLHTh1InhhwT75gykhs7pqcR_uSiG601oh">first
keynote</a> at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHTh1InhhwT75gykhs7pqcR_uSiG601oh">CppCon </a>this
year was Bjarne Stroustrup (who invented the C++ language) announcing the <a href="https://github.com/isocpp/cppcoreguidelines">C++
Core Guidelines</a>. They are on Github and once he announced them, as Herb Sutter
reported in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEx5DNLWGgA&amp;index=2&amp;list=PLHTh1InhhwT75gykhs7pqcR_uSiG601oh">second
keynote</a> the very next day, they quickly became a trending topic across all languages.
Here is a description of the guidelines from there:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
The C++ Core Guidelines are a collaborative effort led by Bjarne Stroustrup, much
like the C++ language itself. They are the result of many person-years of discussion
and design across a number of organizations. Their design encourages general applicability
and broad adoption but they can be freely copied and modified to meet your organization's
needs.
</p>
</blockquote><blockquote>
<p>
The aim of the guidelines is to help people to use modern C++ effectively. By "modern
C++" we mean C++11 and C++14 (and soon C++17). In other words, what would you like
your code to look like in 5 years' time, given that you can start now? In 10 years'
time?
</p>
</blockquote><blockquote>
<p>
The guidelines are focused on relatively higher-level issues, such as interfaces,
resource management, memory management, and concurrency. Such rules affect application
architecture and library design. Following the rules will lead to code that is statically
type safe, has no resource leaks, and catches many more programming logic errors than
is common in code today. And it will run fast - you can afford to do things right.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
To me, these guidelines are the key to getting across my fundamental message that
C++ does not have to be hard, scary, complicated, or dangerous. The language may still
say “it’s your foot!” but the guidelines, and the tools they can drive, are quite
the opposite.
</p>
<p>
You probably know that Visual Studio has a static analyser built in. (You should,
anyway, I’ve blogged about it.) It will catch things like this:
</p>
<p>
&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;int* p = nullptr;<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;*p = 10;&nbsp; &nbsp;
</p>
<p>
But it doesn’t mind things like this:
</p>
<p>
&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;int arr[10];&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;int* p2 = arr;
</p>
<p>
Two lines, two violations of the guidelines – I’m not initializing any of the elements
of arr, and then I am using its address as a regular old pointer. Now, there’s nothing
wrong with regular old pointers – some people have got quite a hate on for them with
the rise of genuinely smart pointers, but pointers are fine. Using pointers to control
lifetime isn’t fine, because it’s impossibly difficult. But pointers themselves are
fine. What’s not fine here is the “decay” of an array into a pointer – folks from
other languages don’t expect that at all, and some marvelous bugs have hidden behind
this simple bit of helpfulness from the compiler. So there’s a <a href="https://github.com/isocpp/CppCoreGuidelines/blob/master/CppCoreGuidelines.md#Pro-bounds-decay">guideline </a>that
says don’t do that. Specifically:<br>
<a href="https://github.com/isocpp/CppCoreGuidelines/blob/master/CppCoreGuidelines.md#Pro-bounds-decay"><img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/bounds3.jpg" border="0" width="700"></a>
</p>
<p>
(I’m giving you a picture of code because if you want to copy and paste you should
go to the live, always updated, guidelines on github.)
</p>
<p>
This guideline is part of a “profile” – a particular set of rules that are designed
to be enforced and that are supported by tools. Well, when I say <i>tools </i>I might
be overstating the case a little. There’s just one tool at the moment, but that could
be enough!
</p>
<p>
This tool, <a href="https://www.nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.CppCoreCheck/">C++ Core
Checker</a>, is on the NuGet Gallery. You don’t have to get it from there though.
You get it, and use it, from inside Visual Studio 2015. Any version will do. If you
don’t use Visual Studio normally, just get and install the Community Edition, which
is free and is ok to use for commercial purposes, from https://www.visualstudio.com/
. (Need the fine print? if you’re using it as a person, you can do whatever you like.
If you work for a company with less than 250 PCs and less than a million dollars US
in revenue, again you and up to 4 of your coworkers can use it for whatever you like.
If you work for an “enterprise” company then any and all of the employees can still
use it for learning purposes or to work on open source.) Note that Visual C++ isn’t
part of the Typical install, so you’ll need to choose Custom and select Visual C++:
</p>
<p>
<img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/custominstall.jpg" border="0" width="230">
</p>
<p>
So once you have Community Edition or some edition of Visual Studio, make a console
application and put in the two bad lines of code. Build it and then also run static
analysis on it (On the Analyze menu, choose Run Code Analysis, On Solution.) You won’t
get any warnings or errors. That’s your pre-guidelines life. You’re doing something
inappropriate and nobody is telling you.
</p>
<p>
Now, add the checker to your solution. This is solution-by-solution, not a change
to how Visual Studio does static analysis. On the Tools menu, choose NuGet Package
Manager, Package Manager Console. In the console window that appears, type <font face="Courier New">Install-Package
Microsoft.CppCoreCheck<font face="Verdana"> and press enter</font></font>. You will
see output like this:
</p>
<p>
Attempting to gather dependencies information for package 'Microsoft.CppCoreCheck.14.0.23107.2'
with respect to project 'ConsoleApplication1', targeting 'native,Version=v0.0'<br>
Attempting to resolve dependencies for package 'Microsoft.CppCoreCheck.14.0.23107.2'
with DependencyBehavior 'Lowest'<br>
Resolving actions to install package 'Microsoft.CppCoreCheck.14.0.23107.2'<br>
Resolved actions to install package 'Microsoft.CppCoreCheck.14.0.23107.2'<br>
Adding package 'Microsoft.Gsl.0.0.1' to folder 'c:\users\kate\documents\visual studio
2015\Projects\ConsoleApplication1\packages'<br>
Added package 'Microsoft.Gsl.0.0.1' to folder 'c:\users\kate\documents\visual studio
2015\Projects\ConsoleApplication1\packages'<br>
Added package 'Microsoft.Gsl.0.0.1' to 'packages.config'<br>
Successfully installed 'Microsoft.Gsl 0.0.1' to ConsoleApplication1<br>
Adding package 'Microsoft.CppCoreCheck.14.0.23107.2' to folder 'c:\users\kate\documents\visual
studio 2015\Projects\ConsoleApplication1\packages'<br>
Added package 'Microsoft.CppCoreCheck.14.0.23107.2' to folder 'c:\users\kate\documents\visual
studio 2015\Projects\ConsoleApplication1\packages'<br>
Added package 'Microsoft.CppCoreCheck.14.0.23107.2' to 'packages.config'<br>
Successfully installed 'Microsoft.CppCoreCheck 14.0.23107.2' to ConsoleApplication1<br>
PM&gt;<br>
<br>
This changes your project settings so that analysis runs this Core Checker for you.
Repeat the analysis step and this time the new tool will run and you will get output
like this:<br>
------ Rebuild All started: Project: ConsoleApplication1, Configuration: Debug Win32
------<br>
&nbsp; stdafx.cpp<br>
&nbsp; ConsoleApplication1.cpp<br>
&nbsp; ConsoleApplication1.vcxproj -&gt; c:\users\kate\documents\visual studio 2015\Projects\ConsoleApplication1\Debug\ConsoleApplication1.exe<br>
c:\users\kate\documents\visual studio 2015\projects\consoleapplication1\consoleapplication1\consoleapplication1.cpp(9):
warning C26494: Variable 'arr' is uninitialized. Always initialize an object. (type.5:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkID=620421)<br>
c:\users\kate\documents\visual studio 2015\projects\consoleapplication1\consoleapplication1\consoleapplication1.cpp(10):
warning C26485: Expression 'arr': No array to pointer decay. (bounds.3: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkID=620415)<br>
========== Rebuild All: 1 succeeded, 0 failed, 0 skipped ==========
</p>
<p>
Where it says "type.5" and there's a link, that's to the specific rule in the "type"
profile that this code breaks. And where it says "bounds.3", the same - I showed a
picture of bounds.3 up above.<br>
</p>
<p>
Isn’t that great? Come on, it’s great! The tool will add more rules as we move through
2016. I’m going to have a lot more to say about the Guidelines as well. But this is
a great place to start.Why not point it at some of your own code and see what happens?<br>
</p>
<p>
Kate
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=f52cd6c4-c8fd-4801-b8d1-71cb980beef6" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=f52cd6c4-c8fd-4801-b8d1-71cb980beef6C++Consulting LifeSeen and RecommendedVisual Studio 2015C++ Guidelineshttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=bf4647ed-a5f0-447c-936b-f1384b282038http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=bf4647ed-a5f0-447c-936b-f1384b282038Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=bf4647ed-a5f0-447c-936b-f1384b282038http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=bf4647ed-a5f0-447c-936b-f1384b282038

If you have an MSDN subscription, you know that it provides a number of benefits besides
software licenses - you get Azure hours, you can use Visual Studio Online, and so
on. Those are well worth the price of the subscription. But it also gives
you access to a number of Pluralsight courses, completely free. If you have a
Professional Subscription, you get access to 30 courses, and if you have an Enterprise
subscription, you get access to 45 courses. (You want one of the over 4500 other
courses? You'll need a full subscription, but you can buy that at 30% off, which helps.)

MSDN Subscriber? Enjoy your free Pluralsight courses!http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=bf4647ed-a5f0-447c-936b-f1384b282038http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/MSDNSubscriberEnjoyYourFreePluralsightCourses.aspx
Thu, 26 Nov 2015 18:29:22 GMT<p>
If you have an MSDN subscription, you know that it provides a number of benefits besides
software licenses - you get Azure hours, you can use Visual Studio Online, and so
on. Those are well worth the price of the subscription. But it <b>also </b><a href="http://blog.pluralsight.com/visual-studio-pluralsight-benefits-extension">gives
you access to a number of Pluralsight courses</a>, completely free. If you have a
Professional Subscription, you get access to 30 courses, and if you have an Enterprise
subscription, you get access to 45 courses.&nbsp; (You want one of the over 4500 other
courses? You'll need a full subscription, but you can buy that at 30% off, which helps.)
</p>
<p>
And yes, my latest course, <a href="https://www.pluralsight.com/courses/visual-studio-2015-essentials-power-user">Visual
Studio 2015: Essentials to the Power-User</a> is one of the ones you'll get access
to. So go, check it out!
</p>
<p>
Kate<br>
</p>
<p>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=bf4647ed-a5f0-447c-936b-f1384b282038" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=bf4647ed-a5f0-447c-936b-f1384b282038Seen and RecommendedVisual Studio 2015http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=7a506f3e-2387-4a63-b24d-dd6b3d6075b5http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=7a506f3e-2387-4a63-b24d-dd6b3d6075b5Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=7a506f3e-2387-4a63-b24d-dd6b3d6075b5http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=7a506f3e-2387-4a63-b24d-dd6b3d6075b5

I have a new Pluralsight course on Visual Studio called Visual
Studio 2015: Essentials to the Power-User. It starts at the beginning, so if you're
new to Visual Studio it will help you get started, but carries on "to 11" as it were,
covering things many everyday users of Visual Studio don't know. Here are the modules,
each with their length:

Getting Started (42:08)

Projects and Solutions (13:23)

Namespaces, Folders, and Files(27:03)

Understanding and Personalizing Visual Studio UI Components (26:57)

Exploring Relationships in Your Code(36:41)

Using Search and Find Effectively(28:15)

Letting Visual Studio Help You (46:28)

Basic Debugging Features (24:04)

Additional Debugging Features (44:30)

Working with Designers (39:37)

Useful Extensions (39:54)

IntelliTrace and Code Map (25:57)

If you don't have a Pluralsight subscription, click the Author link over on the right
hand side of this blog - click Subscribe, then Start 10-Day trial. That should give
you a good idea of how valuable the subscriptions can be. (My company buys subscriptions
for my staff, and I use my free author one all the time. It's a great way to learn
a new technology.)

My main goal in this course was to have Visual Studio make sense to the learner. There
are so many ways to do any action that sometimes when you learn something it seems
pointless, and you quickly get tired of learning an endless parade of similar features.
I worked hard to put these into an order that would lead naturally through the capabilities
of the tool, and put things in context. If you watch all 12 modules, you'll know more
Visual Studio than most developers - and you'll have a productivity boost to show
for it that should be pretty impressive! Please do give it a try.

Kate

My Visual Studio 2015 course is live!http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=7a506f3e-2387-4a63-b24d-dd6b3d6075b5http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/MyVisualStudio2015CourseIsLive.aspx
Mon, 09 Nov 2015 17:18:54 GMT<p>
I have a new Pluralsight course on Visual Studio called <a href="http://www.pluralsight.com/courses/visual-studio-2015-essentials-power-user">Visual
Studio 2015: Essentials to the Power-User</a>. It starts at the beginning, so if you're
new to Visual Studio it will help you get started, but carries on "to 11" as it were,
covering things many everyday users of Visual Studio don't know. Here are the modules,
each with their length:
</p>
<ol>
<li>
Getting Started (42:08)</li>
<li>
Projects and Solutions (13:23)</li>
<li>
Namespaces, Folders, and Files(27:03)</li>
<li>
Understanding and Personalizing Visual Studio UI Components (26:57)</li>
<li>
Exploring Relationships in Your Code(36:41)</li>
<li>
Using Search and Find Effectively(28:15)</li>
<li>
Letting Visual Studio Help You (46:28)</li>
<li>
Basic Debugging Features (24:04)</li>
<li>
Additional Debugging Features (44:30)</li>
<li>
Working with Designers (39:37)</li>
<li>
Useful Extensions (39:54)</li>
<li>
IntelliTrace and Code Map (25:57)</li>
</ol>
<p>
If you don't have a Pluralsight subscription, click the Author link over on the right
hand side of this blog - click Subscribe, then Start 10-Day trial. That should give
you a good idea of how valuable the subscriptions can be. (My company buys subscriptions
for my staff, and I use my free author one all the time. It's a great way to learn
a new technology.)
</p>
<p>
My main goal in this course was to have Visual Studio make sense to the learner. There
are so many ways to do any action that sometimes when you learn something it seems
pointless, and you quickly get tired of learning an endless parade of similar features.
I worked hard to put these into an order that would lead naturally through the capabilities
of the tool, and put things in context. If you watch all 12 modules, you'll know more
Visual Studio than most developers - and you'll have a productivity boost to show
for it that should be pretty impressive! Please do give it a try.
</p>
<p>
Kate<br>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=7a506f3e-2387-4a63-b24d-dd6b3d6075b5" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=7a506f3e-2387-4a63-b24d-dd6b3d6075b5Consulting LifeMentoringSeen and RecommendedVisual Studio 2015http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=65abf2e3-40c7-45ff-831d-6682afbb5740http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=65abf2e3-40c7-45ff-831d-6682afbb5740Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=65abf2e3-40c7-45ff-831d-6682afbb5740http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=65abf2e3-40c7-45ff-831d-6682afbb5740

One of the CppCon sponsors, Bloomberg, is running
a contest for
students in university or college and giving away trips to attend CppCon2015 in September
in Bellevue, Washington:

The series of seven weekly challenges will kick off on June 22, 2015, and each week
contestants will be provided a different set of problems to solve via Bloomberg’s
cloud-based CodeCon platform. Each week’s winner will earn a trip to CppCon in September.
The list of seven winners will be announced and notified via email on August 5.

Interested? You should be. CppCon is a great experience for students and one you won't
soon forget.

Kate

Are you a student? Win a trip to CppConhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=65abf2e3-40c7-45ff-831d-6682afbb5740http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/AreYouAStudentWinATripToCppCon.aspx
Thu, 11 Jun 2015 19:38:34 GMT<p>
One of the <a href="http://cppcon.org/">CppCon </a>sponsors, Bloomberg, is running
a <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/company/announcements/special-c-codecon-challenge-cppcon-now-open-registration/">contest </a>for
students in university or college and giving away trips to attend CppCon2015 in September
in Bellevue, Washington:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
The series of seven weekly challenges will kick off on June 22, 2015, and each week
contestants will be provided a different set of problems to solve via Bloomberg’s
cloud-based CodeCon platform. Each week’s winner will earn a trip to CppCon in September.
The list of seven winners will be announced and notified via email on August 5.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
Interested? You should be. CppCon is a great experience for students and one you won't
soon forget.
</p>
<p>
Kate
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=65abf2e3-40c7-45ff-831d-6682afbb5740" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=65abf2e3-40c7-45ff-831d-6682afbb5740C++Consulting LifeSeen and Recommendedhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=509f46c5-ec4a-4088-8b3e-3b1a238e300bhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=509f46c5-ec4a-4088-8b3e-3b1a238e300bKate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=509f46c5-ec4a-4088-8b3e-3b1a238e300bhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=509f46c5-ec4a-4088-8b3e-3b1a238e300b1

James and I are adding quite a lot of material, so if you saw this talk at CppCon,
you should probably come and see it again at ACCU. Alternatively, you could come to
the conferences and watch one of the conflicting talks and take excellent notes, because
I really wish I could be at those as well!

I first went to ACCU two years ago, spending my own money for travel and the registration
fee. I enjoyed it immensely and learned a lot, so it's a real thrill to be speaking
there this year. I can't wait!

Early bird rates last
till the end of February. Register as soon as you can, and I'll see you there.

Kate

ACCU 2015 - I'm Speakinghttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=509f46c5-ec4a-4088-8b3e-3b1a238e300bhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/ACCU2015ImSpeaking.aspx
Tue, 13 Jan 2015 17:48:48 GMT<p>
ACCU has announced the <a href="http://accu.org/index.php/conferences/accu_conference_2015/accu2015_schedule">schedule
for their 2015 conference</a> in Bristol, so I can announce that it includes me!
</p>
<p>
<img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/thursmorn.jpg" border="0" width="500">
</p>
<p>
James and I are adding quite a lot of material, so if you saw this talk at CppCon,
you should probably come and see it again at ACCU. Alternatively, you could come to
the conferences and watch one of the conflicting talks and take excellent notes, because
I really wish I could be at those as well!
</p>
<p>
I first went to ACCU two years ago, spending my own money for travel and the registration
fee. I enjoyed it immensely and learned a lot, so it's a real thrill to be speaking
there this year. I can't wait!
</p>
<p>
<a href="http://accu.org/index.php/conferences/accu_conference_2015">Early bird rates</a> last
till the end of February. Register as soon as you can, and I'll see you there.
</p>
<p>
Kate<br>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=509f46c5-ec4a-4088-8b3e-3b1a238e300b" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=509f46c5-ec4a-4088-8b3e-3b1a238e300bC++Seen and RecommendedSpeakingTravelhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=e42a6be8-4ac5-4a92-b1bf-47824bf570e7http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=e42a6be8-4ac5-4a92-b1bf-47824bf570e7Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=e42a6be8-4ac5-4a92-b1bf-47824bf570e7http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=e42a6be8-4ac5-4a92-b1bf-47824bf570e7

My friend (and fellow Pluralsight author) Kathleen Dollard is coming to town, and
will speak at the East of Toronto .NET User Group on "What's New in C# 6.0".

The next release of Visual Studio includes some major language enhancements that every
developer should be aware of. Get up to speed on forthcoming enhancements quickly
with this user group meeting from Microsoft MVP and language guru Kathleen Dollard.

Join us at 6pm at the Pickering Central Library! Please register at the
Meetup page. See you there!

Kate

What’s New in C# 6.0 - Wednesday in Pickering with Kathleen Dollardhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=e42a6be8-4ac5-4a92-b1bf-47824bf570e7http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/WhatsNewInC60WednesdayInPickeringWithKathleenDollard.aspx
Mon, 12 Jan 2015 23:10:01 GMT<p>
My friend (and fellow Pluralsight author) Kathleen Dollard is coming to town, and
will speak at the East of Toronto .NET User Group on "What's New in C# 6.0".
<br>
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
The next release of Visual Studio includes some major language enhancements that every
developer should be aware of. Get up to speed on forthcoming enhancements quickly
with this user group meeting from Microsoft MVP and language guru Kathleen Dollard.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
Join us at 6pm at the Pickering Central Library! Please register at <a href="http://www.meetup.com/easttorontoug/events/219671481/">the
Meetup page</a>. See you there!
</p>
<p>
Kate<br>
</p>
<p>
<br>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=e42a6be8-4ac5-4a92-b1bf-47824bf570e7" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=e42a6be8-4ac5-4a92-b1bf-47824bf570e7Consulting LifeSeen and RecommendedVisual Studio 2015http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=976bcbd1-2c61-4e9f-b441-bb2220be2d4fhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=976bcbd1-2c61-4e9f-b441-bb2220be2d4fKate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=976bcbd1-2c61-4e9f-b441-bb2220be2d4fhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=976bcbd1-2c61-4e9f-b441-bb2220be2d4f

In my Pluralsight course, Using StackOverflow and
Other StackExchange Sites, I cover all the things you really need to know to use
the sites effectively and get answers to your questions, or a chance to show your
skills. In the last module I explain how to help run the sites yourself, and I suppose
you don't actually need to know that to use them - but knowing how they're run can
help you understand what happens and why, so I included that material. I didn't include
things that are really just for fun.

Right now, Winter Bash is on and it's just for fun. I made a
quick video to show what it's about - take a look and let me know what you think.
I hope to keep adding more "almost-great" items throughout next year.

Kate

Video - Stack Exchange Winter Bash (hats)http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=976bcbd1-2c61-4e9f-b441-bb2220be2d4fhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/VideoStackExchangeWinterBashHats.aspx
Wed, 24 Dec 2014 15:43:41 GMT<p>
In my Pluralsight course, <a href="http://shrsl.com/?~78zb">Using StackOverflow and
Other StackExchange Sites</a>, I cover all the things you really need to know to use
the sites effectively and get answers to your questions, or a chance to show your
skills. In the last module I explain how to help run the sites yourself, and I suppose
you don't actually need to know that to use them - but knowing how they're run can
help you understand what happens and why, so I included that material. I didn't include
things that are really just for fun.
<br>
</p>
<p>
Right now, Winter Bash is on and it's just for fun. I made <a href="http://youtu.be/yWLKYPVrdr0">a
quick video</a> to show what it's about - take a look and let me know what you think.
I hope to keep adding more "almost-great" items throughout next year.
</p>
<p>
Kate<br>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=976bcbd1-2c61-4e9f-b441-bb2220be2d4f" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=976bcbd1-2c61-4e9f-b441-bb2220be2d4fConsulting LifeMentoringSeen and Recommendedhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=e3bb31c3-305b-4ca1-9162-d6ba490758f0http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=e3bb31c3-305b-4ca1-9162-d6ba490758f0Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=e3bb31c3-305b-4ca1-9162-d6ba490758f0http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=e3bb31c3-305b-4ca1-9162-d6ba490758f0

Earlier this year I flew to Utah for the Pluralsight Author Summit. Spending time
with such a great collection of my friends and colleagues, and learning more about
how to make a great course, was the real reason for the trip, but I got up early one
morning to record a
Play by Play video with Geoffrey Grosenbach. He has a genuine skill of getting
you to demonstrate your own thought processes aloud and I've enjoyed watching other
people's Play by Play sessions a lot.

Geoffrey had arranged for some ancient C++ code for me to poke around in. Mike
Woodring came through with the sample code from his 1997 book with Aaron Cohen, WIN32
Multithreaded Programming. Seventeen-year old code it may have been, but it turned
out not to be quite as ugly as I would have liked. Still, we put it through its paces
a little and talked about how I approach this sort of task.

It came out to about 90 minutes overall so if you have a chance to watch it, let me
know what you thought!

Kate

Play By Play video session - exploring ancient C++ codehttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=e3bb31c3-305b-4ca1-9162-d6ba490758f0http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PlayByPlayVideoSessionExploringAncientCCode.aspx
Tue, 12 Aug 2014 17:34:43 GMT<p>
Earlier this year I flew to Utah for the Pluralsight Author Summit. Spending time
with such a great collection of my friends and colleagues, and learning more about
how to make a great course, was the real reason for the trip, but I got up early one
morning to record <a href="http://beta.pluralsight.com/courses/play-by-play-kate-gregory">a
Play by Play video</a> with Geoffrey Grosenbach. He has a genuine skill of getting
you to demonstrate your own thought processes aloud and I've enjoyed watching <a href="http://beta.pluralsight.com/tag/play%20by%20play">other
people's Play by Play sessions</a> a lot.
</p>
<p>
Geoffrey had arranged for some ancient C++ code for me to poke around in. <a href="http://beta.pluralsight.com/author/mike-woodring">Mike
Woodring</a> came through with the sample code from his 1997 book with Aaron Cohen, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/WIN32-Multithreaded-Programming-Aaron-Cohen/dp/1565922964">WIN32
Multithreaded Programming</a>. Seventeen-year old code it may have been, but it turned
out not to be quite as ugly as I would have liked. Still, we put it through its paces
a little and talked about how I approach this sort of task.
</p>
<p>
<a href="http://beta.pluralsight.com/courses/play-by-play-kate-gregory"><img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/pbp.jpg" border="0"></a>
</p>
<p>
It came out to about 90 minutes overall so if you have a chance to watch it, let me
know what you thought!
</p>
<p>
Kate
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=e3bb31c3-305b-4ca1-9162-d6ba490758f0" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=e3bb31c3-305b-4ca1-9162-d6ba490758f0C++ConcurrencyConsulting LifeSeen and RecommendedSpeakinghttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=ec9a4672-7316-4f57-9327-caae3e119337http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=ec9a4672-7316-4f57-9327-caae3e119337Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=ec9a4672-7316-4f57-9327-caae3e119337http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=ec9a4672-7316-4f57-9327-caae3e119337

It's just around the corner - the largest C++ conference EVER with over one hundred
talks!

And two of those talks I'll be doing with James McNellis. We had such a good time
presenting together for Microsoft Virtual Academy that we decided to do it again.
How do these sound?

C++ is a programming language with a long, storied history spanning over three decades--four
if one includes its C ancestry. The C++ language has undergone many changes during
that time, compiler technology has advanced substantially, and computers today are
very different from the computers of decades past. But despite all of these advances,
there's an awful lot of C++ code in use today that looks like it was written in the
1980s. In some cases, the code was written in the 1980s and it's still in use; in
other cases, it's recently-written code that just doesn't use modern style.

In this talk, we'll discuss some of the problems with legacy code, and review some
practical techniques for applying principles of modern C++ to gradually improve the
quality of legacy code and improve maintainability and debuggability. We'll show how
some very small changes to code can yield huge benefits.

Ask a non-C++ developer what they think of C++ and they'll give the language plenty
of compliments: powerful, fast, flexible, and "the language for smart people". But
along with that you are likely to hear ugly, complicated, hard to read, and "the language
for smart people". Is it possible to write beautiful C++? Not arcanely elegant or
wickedly compact, but readable, clear, expressive - beautiful! We say it is, and we
want to show you how.

In this session, you'll see how to turn pages of "comic book characters swearing"
into code you'll be proud to call your own. By making your code express your intent,
using the power of new language and library functionality, and leaving hard-to-read
constructs out of your vocabulary, you can give your code a makeover that will stand
the test of time.

If you're not registered yet, there's still time! All five days cost $995 and there
are one and two day passes available for less. You're going to want to meet and learn
from the stars of C++ - check the full
session list to read all about it.

Kate

Two sessions at CppCon in Septemberhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=ec9a4672-7316-4f57-9327-caae3e119337http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/TwoSessionsAtCppConInSeptember.aspx
Sat, 02 Aug 2014 18:37:09 GMT<p>
It's just around the corner - the largest C++ conference EVER with over one hundred
talks!
</p>
<p>
<img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/cppcon-flair.png" border="0">
</p>
<p>
And two of those talks I'll be doing with James McNellis. We had such a good time
presenting together for Microsoft Virtual Academy that we decided to do it again.
How do these sound?
</p>
<p>
<a href="http://cppcon2014.sched.org/event/7f1ed596c545ca0c2190d018f072dfd2?iframe=no&amp;w=&amp;sidebar=yes&amp;bg=no#.U-PEqHl0zfE">Modernizing
Legacy C++ Code </a>
<br>
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
C++ is a programming language with a long, storied history spanning over three decades--four
if one includes its C ancestry. The C++ language has undergone many changes during
that time, compiler technology has advanced substantially, and computers today are
very different from the computers of decades past. But despite all of these advances,
there's an awful lot of C++ code in use today that looks like it was written in the
1980s. In some cases, the code was written in the 1980s and it's still in use; in
other cases, it's recently-written code that just doesn't use modern style.<br>
<br>
In this talk, we'll discuss some of the problems with legacy code, and review some
practical techniques for applying principles of modern C++ to gradually improve the
quality of legacy code and improve maintainability and debuggability. We'll show how
some very small changes to code can yield huge benefits.
<br>
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a class="name" id="802c1ad1e059839b3ef9802fe8bf7bef" href="http://cppcon2014.sched.org/event/802c1ad1e059839b3ef9802fe8bf7bef?iframe=no&amp;w=&amp;sidebar=yes&amp;bg=no#">Making
C++ Code Beautiful
<br>
</a>
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
Ask a non-C++ developer what they think of C++ and they'll give the language plenty
of compliments: powerful, fast, flexible, and "the language for smart people". But
along with that you are likely to hear ugly, complicated, hard to read, and "the language
for smart people". Is it possible to write beautiful C++? Not arcanely elegant or
wickedly compact, but readable, clear, expressive - beautiful! We say it is, and we
want to show you how.
<br>
</p>
<p>
In this session, you'll see how to turn pages of "comic book characters swearing"
into code you'll be proud to call your own. By making your code express your intent,
using the power of new language and library functionality, and leaving hard-to-read
constructs out of your vocabulary, you can give your code a makeover that will stand
the test of time.
<br>
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
If you're not registered yet, there's still time! All five days cost $995 and there
are one and two day passes available for less. You're going to want to meet and learn
from the stars of C++ - check the<a href="http://cppcon.org/conference-program/"> full
session list to read all about it.</a>
</p>
<p>
Kate
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=ec9a4672-7316-4f57-9327-caae3e119337" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=ec9a4672-7316-4f57-9327-caae3e119337C++Seen and RecommendedSpeakinghttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=6be6d80a-2f82-499c-ba2a-97d11219cfadhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=6be6d80a-2f82-499c-ba2a-97d11219cfadKate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=6be6d80a-2f82-499c-ba2a-97d11219cfadhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=6be6d80a-2f82-499c-ba2a-97d11219cfad

I've completed my development of my latest Pluralsight course and I'm just waiting
for it to go live. Here are the "teaser" images I posted to Twitter and my
public Facebook page as I was developing it:

This was fun to put together and it's nice to get into things so many people don't
know. I hope you take a look at it once it's live and learn from it!

Kate

Using Visual Studio 2013 - Part 2http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=8c969941-ac55-41dd-a92e-fb9d58067639http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/UsingVisualStudio2013Part2.aspx
Fri, 23 May 2014 13:38:00 GMT<p>
I've completed my development of my latest Pluralsight course and I'm just waiting
for it to go live. Here are the "teaser" images&nbsp; I posted to <a href="https://twitter.com/gregcons">Twitter </a>and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/kate.Gregory.Public">my
public Facebook page</a> as I was developing it:
</p>
<p>
<img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/teaser.jpg" border="0" width="300"><img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/teaser[1].jpg" border="1" width="300"><img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/teaser[1][2].jpg" border="1" width="300"><img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/teaser[1][2][3].jpg" border="1" width="300"><img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/teaser[1][2][3][4].jpg" border="1" width="300">
</p>
<p>
This was fun to put together and it's nice to get into things so many people don't
know. I hope you take a look at it once it's live and learn from it!
</p>
<p>
Kate
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=8c969941-ac55-41dd-a92e-fb9d58067639" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=8c969941-ac55-41dd-a92e-fb9d58067639Seen and RecommendedVisual Studio 2013http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=aadcaa55-ee1f-4f5c-9e94-8fadb48d183bhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=aadcaa55-ee1f-4f5c-9e94-8fadb48d183bKate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=aadcaa55-ee1f-4f5c-9e94-8fadb48d183bhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=aadcaa55-ee1f-4f5c-9e94-8fadb48d183b

Do you think Agile and Enterprise can go together? Are you a senior .NET developer
who is looking to lead? If so, a client of mine is looking for you. Their job description
includes:

We’ll look to you as a team leader who embraces a solid leadership capacity that has
truly valuable impact on our team. In this senior role, you will participate in all
aspects of the software development lifecycle including planning, technical design
and architecture, construction, documentation, testing and deployment. Additionally,
you’ll have a big picture view and the opportunity to play a role in the design.

and they're expecting:

Proven and deep experience with different versions of .NET Framework and C#/ASP.NET
development

Demonstrable experience working on N-tier architectures

Solid understanding of the full development life-cycle

Knowledge and experience with Agile development methodologies (e.g. XP, Scrum)

Sounds like you? Then get in touch with me and I'll make an introduction.

Kate

Senior .Net Developer in Thornhillhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=aadcaa55-ee1f-4f5c-9e94-8fadb48d183bhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SeniorNetDeveloperInThornhill.aspx
Wed, 30 Apr 2014 16:58:02 GMT<p>
Do you think Agile and Enterprise can go together? Are you a senior .NET developer
who is looking to lead? If so, a client of mine is looking for you. Their job description
includes:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
We’ll look to you as a team leader who embraces a solid leadership capacity that has
truly valuable impact on our team. In this senior role, you will participate in all
aspects of the software development lifecycle including planning, technical design
and architecture, construction, documentation, testing and deployment. Additionally,
you’ll have a big picture view and the opportunity to play a role in the design.
<br>
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
and they're expecting:
</p>
<p>
</p>
<ul>
<li>
Proven and deep experience with different versions of .NET Framework and C#/ASP.NET
development</li>
<li>
Demonstrable experience working on N-tier architectures</li>
<li>
Solid understanding of the full development life-cycle</li>
<li>
Knowledge and experience with Agile development methodologies (e.g. XP, Scrum)</li>
<li>
Champion of agile engineering practices (e.g. TDD, continuous integration, refactoring
etc)</li>
<li>
Good understanding of design patterns and their application</li>
<li>
Experienced unit testing frameworks</li>
<li>
Computer Science (or related) degree</li>
<li>
Knowledge of/experience with Sitecore is an asset</li>
<li>
Knowledge of/experience with Ektron is an asset</li>
<li>
Knowledge of/experience with Sharepoint is an asset</li>
</ul>
<p>
</p>
<p>
Sounds like you? Then get in touch with me and I'll make an introduction.
</p>
<p>
Kate<br>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=aadcaa55-ee1f-4f5c-9e94-8fadb48d183b" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=aadcaa55-ee1f-4f5c-9e94-8fadb48d183bConsulting LifeSeen and Recommendedhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=0cb7578e-e864-45ce-9093-3601860fcfe9http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=0cb7578e-e864-45ce-9093-3601860fcfe9Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=0cb7578e-e864-45ce-9093-3601860fcfe9http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=0cb7578e-e864-45ce-9093-3601860fcfe9

Office
Lens went live in the Windows Phone Store today. I happened to have a list of
things to do on a whiteboard in my office, so I gave it a try. I had already taken
a picture of the whiteboard to transcribe but I went back to the board with the app
installed to see if I could save some time.

Here's the picture Office Lens took (resized to 400 pixels wide)

Here's how that looked when Office Lens cleaned it up and put it in a OneNote document
for me (I copied the picture out of OneNote, cropped it and resized it):

Much nicer - the glare spots are gone and the background is cleaner. The skew that
resulted from taking the picture on an angle (a defensive action to keep the glare
out of the important parts of the image) is also gone. As is, this can go into an
email. If my handwriting was neater, One Note could have tried to extract the text
from it. But this is a lovely improvement and Office Lens is free, so why not give
it a try?

Kate

Office Lenshttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=0cb7578e-e864-45ce-9093-3601860fcfe9http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/OfficeLens.aspx
Mon, 17 Mar 2014 16:19:16 GMT<p>
<a href="http://www.wpcentral.com/windows-phone-personal-scanner-office-lens-now-available">Office
Lens went live in the Windows Phone Store today</a>. I happened to have a list of
things to do on a whiteboard in my office, so I gave it a try. I had already taken
a picture of the whiteboard to transcribe but I went back to the board with the app
installed to see if I could save some time.<br>
<br>
Here's the picture Office Lens took (resized to 400 pixels wide)
</p>
<p>
<img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/Office Lens_20140317_115229.jpg" border="0">
</p>
<p>
Here's how that looked when Office Lens cleaned it up and put it in a OneNote document
for me (I copied the picture out of OneNote, cropped it and resized it):
</p>
<p>
<img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/drive to finish.jpg" border="0">
</p>
<p>
Much nicer - the glare spots are gone and the background is cleaner. The skew that
resulted from taking the picture on an angle (a defensive action to keep the glare
out of the important parts of the image) is also gone. As is, this can go into an
email. If my handwriting was neater, One Note could have tried to extract the text
from it. But this is a lovely improvement and Office Lens is free, so why not give
it a try?
</p>
<p>
Kate
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=0cb7578e-e864-45ce-9093-3601860fcfe9" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=0cb7578e-e864-45ce-9093-3601860fcfe9Consulting LifeSeen and Recommendedhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=4c3bc60e-d75e-4669-863e-a79915004856http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=4c3bc60e-d75e-4669-863e-a79915004856Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=4c3bc60e-d75e-4669-863e-a79915004856http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=4c3bc60e-d75e-4669-863e-a79915004856

I have updated my Visual Studio Pluralsight course for Visual Studio 2013 and Part
1 is now live. It covers features that were newly added in the 2013 release as
well as older material (so you don't need to take the 2012 courses before you take
this one.) It focuses on how to work Visual Studio rather than on the mechanics of
a particular programming language or framework. The demos are all in C# but almost
all of it applies to other languages equally well. (As C++ developers know, some things
we don't get, but we're used to that.)

A number of people who've been using Visual Studio for years have reported to me that
they decided to watch the course just to see what features I felt were worth covering
- and then accidentally learned something! Chances are you will, too, so why not watch
on double speed and see if something comes up you didn't know before?

Kate

My Visual Studio 2013 course is livehttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=4c3bc60e-d75e-4669-863e-a79915004856http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/MyVisualStudio2013CourseIsLive.aspx
Fri, 28 Feb 2014 17:49:26 GMT<p>
I have updated my Visual Studio Pluralsight course for Visual Studio 2013 and <a href="http://pluralsight.com/training/Courses/TableOfContents/intro-visual-studio-2013">Part
1</a> is now live. It covers features that were newly added in the 2013 release as
well as older material (so you don't need to take the 2012 courses before you take
this one.) It focuses on how to work Visual Studio rather than on the mechanics of
a particular programming language or framework. The demos are all in C# but almost
all of it applies to other languages equally well. (As C++ developers know, some things
we don't get, but we're used to that.)
<br>
</p>
<p>
A number of people who've been using Visual Studio for years have reported to me that
they decided to watch the course just to see what features I felt were worth covering
- and then accidentally learned something! Chances are you will, too, so why not watch
on double speed and see if something comes up you didn't know before?
</p>
<p>
Kate<br>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=4c3bc60e-d75e-4669-863e-a79915004856" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=4c3bc60e-d75e-4669-863e-a79915004856Seen and RecommendedVisual Studio 2013http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=0cce5e8d-39d8-4297-9d01-8fe91475bc74http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=0cce5e8d-39d8-4297-9d01-8fe91475bc74Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=0cce5e8d-39d8-4297-9d01-8fe91475bc74http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=0cce5e8d-39d8-4297-9d01-8fe91475bc74

We went very fast through this one day introduction. If you'd like a slightly saner
pace, please check out my Pluralsight courses, C++
Fundamentals and C++
Fundamentals - Part 2. If you're not a programmer, and you'd like to "begin at
the beginning" with C++, try Learn
How to Program with C++. There is a free trial for the Pluralsight courses to
get you started.

Kate

Recording of the MVA day is availablehttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=0cce5e8d-39d8-4297-9d01-8fe91475bc74http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/RecordingOfTheMVADayIsAvailable.aspx
Wed, 27 Nov 2013 19:44:23 GMT<p>
Channel 9 has all 7 pieces of the MVA Day I did with James McNellis <a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/cplusplus-language-library">available
online now</a>!
</p>
<p>
<a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/cplusplus-language-library"><img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/jumpstart[1].jpg" border="0"></a>
</p>
<p>
We went very fast through this one day introduction. If you'd like a slightly saner
pace, please check out my Pluralsight courses, <a href="http://pluralsight.com/training/Courses/TableOfContents/cpp-fundamentals">C++
Fundamentals</a> and <a href="http://pluralsight.com/training/Courses/TableOfContents/cppfund2">C++
Fundamentals - Part 2</a>. If you're not a programmer, and you'd like to "begin at
the beginning" with C++, try <a href="http://pluralsight.com/training/Courses/TableOfContents/learn-programming-cplusplus">Learn
How to Program with C++</a>. There is a free trial for the Pluralsight courses to
get you started.
</p>
<p>
Kate<br>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=0cce5e8d-39d8-4297-9d01-8fe91475bc74" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=0cce5e8d-39d8-4297-9d01-8fe91475bc74C++Seen and RecommendedSpeakinghttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=e45a3427-2d1e-4126-9d4b-cb68b678c7f4http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=e45a3427-2d1e-4126-9d4b-cb68b678c7f4Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=e45a3427-2d1e-4126-9d4b-cb68b678c7f4http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=e45a3427-2d1e-4126-9d4b-cb68b678c7f4
I've been busy this fall with the release
of Visual Studio 2013. One of the things I've been working on is live now: a new
Pluralsight course. I focused on new things that matter to C++ developers, whether
that's compiler support for language changes (hello, variadic templates!) or IDE changes
that were implemented for C++ as well as "the other languages". Here's the description:

The C++ Language and the Standard Library both changed dramatically with
the release of C++ 11. Some of these features were not implemented until Visual Studio
2013, and those are presented in this course. You'll learn about variadic templates,
improvements in constructing and initializing variables, and rawnstring literals.
In addition a number of productivity boosting enhancements in debugging, editing,
and using libraries are in this version and you will learn how to take advantage of
them.

If you don't have a Pluralsight subscription already, there's a free trial available,
so please check
it out!

Kate

New Pluralsight course: What's New in Visual Studio 2013 for C++ Developershttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=e45a3427-2d1e-4126-9d4b-cb68b678c7f4http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/NewPluralsightCourseWhatsNewInVisualStudio2013ForCDevelopers.aspx
Fri, 22 Nov 2013 18:36:27 GMTI've been busy this fall with the release of Visual Studio 2013. One of the things I've been working on is live now: a <a href="http://pluralsight.com/training/Courses/TableOfContents/whats-new-visual-studio-2013-cplusplus-devs">new
Pluralsight course</a>. I focused on new things that matter to C++ developers, whether
that's compiler support for language changes (hello, variadic templates!) or IDE changes
that were implemented for C++ as well as "the other languages". Here's the description:<br>
<br>
<blockquote>The C++ Language and the Standard Library both changed dramatically with
the release of C++ 11. Some of these features were not implemented until Visual Studio
2013, and those are presented in this course. You'll learn about variadic templates,
improvements in constructing and initializing variables, and rawnstring literals.
In addition a number of productivity boosting enhancements in debugging, editing,
and using libraries are in this version and you will learn how to take advantage of
them.
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
If you don't have a Pluralsight subscription already, there's a free trial available,
so please <a href="http://pluralsight.com/training/Courses/TableOfContents/whats-new-visual-studio-2013-cplusplus-devs">check
it out</a>!<br>
<br>
Kate<br>
<p>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=e45a3427-2d1e-4126-9d4b-cb68b678c7f4" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=e45a3427-2d1e-4126-9d4b-cb68b678c7f4C++Seen and RecommendedVisual Studio 2013http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=f3674b95-e814-4560-ac9c-8f68e0afe429http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=f3674b95-e814-4560-ac9c-8f68e0afe429Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=f3674b95-e814-4560-ac9c-8f68e0afe429http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=f3674b95-e814-4560-ac9c-8f68e0afe4292
A lot of people (a lot) have asked whether
the November 19th session (a whirlwind tour of C++ for those who don't know it) will
be recorded. I'm happy to confirm that it will be. On the Live
Events Page for Microsoft Virtual Academy you will see both future and past events.
Here you can register
for our session, and about two weeks afterward a link will appear on this page
to let you watch the recording.

Please help spread the word to people you know who want to learn C++!

Kate

Yes, the C++ Day Live Event will be recordedhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=f3674b95-e814-4560-ac9c-8f68e0afe429http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/YesTheCDayLiveEventWillBeRecorded.aspx
Wed, 13 Nov 2013 00:53:21 GMTA lot of people (a lot) have asked whether the November 19th session (a whirlwind tour of C++ for those who don't know it) will be recorded. I'm happy to confirm that it will be. On the <a href="http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/Live-Training-Events">Live
Events Page for Microsoft Virtual Academy</a> you will see both future and past events.
Here you can <a temp_href="http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/liveevents/c-a-xgeneral-purpose- language-and-library?prid=ca_mvpkc " href="http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/liveevents/c-a-xgeneral-purpose- language-and-library?prid=ca_mvpkc ">register
for our session</a>, and about two weeks afterward a link will appear on this page
to let you watch the recording.<br>
<br>
Please help spread the word to people you know who want to learn C++!<br>
<br>
Kate<br>
<p>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=f3674b95-e814-4560-ac9c-8f68e0afe429" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=f3674b95-e814-4560-ac9c-8f68e0afe429C++Seen and RecommendedSpeakinghttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=c23f0e60-ea1f-4a35-88ac-3c38511d2067http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=c23f0e60-ea1f-4a35-88ac-3c38511d2067Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=c23f0e60-ea1f-4a35-88ac-3c38511d2067http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=c23f0e60-ea1f-4a35-88ac-3c38511d2067

In yesterday's session, I showed a Windows 8 store app that loads an image and then
draws an animated ripple over it.

If you would like to get the code, and more importantly the documentation that explains
the code, it's on Codeplex.
Mixing and matching a little DirectX into your Windows 8 C++/CX app is remarkably
easy, so why not take a quick look?

Kate

DirectX and Windows Store interop quickstarthttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=c23f0e60-ea1f-4a35-88ac-3c38511d2067http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/DirectXAndWindowsStoreInteropQuickstart.aspx
Wed, 02 Oct 2013 06:45:36 GMT<p>
In yesterday's session, I showed a Windows 8 store app that loads an image and then
draws an animated ripple over it.
</p>
<p>
<img border="0" width=400 src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/ripple.png">
</p>
<p>
If you would like to get the code, and more importantly the documentation that explains
the code, it's <a href="http://hilo.codeplex.com/releases/view/98021">on Codeplex</a>.
Mixing and matching a little DirectX into your Windows 8 C++/CX app is remarkably
easy, so why not take a quick look?
</p>
<p>
Kate
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=c23f0e60-ea1f-4a35-88ac-3c38511d2067" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=c23f0e60-ea1f-4a35-88ac-3c38511d2067C++Client DevelopmentSeen and RecommendedVisual Studio 11Windows 8http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=ac41cc0a-e349-406b-96c8-ad385675b220http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=ac41cc0a-e349-406b-96c8-ad385675b220Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=ac41cc0a-e349-406b-96c8-ad385675b220http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=ac41cc0a-e349-406b-96c8-ad385675b220

Our April dinner is being held on Thursday 11th in conjunction with
the ACCU 2013 conference.

The event starts at 7pm for 7.30pm, at the Bristol Marriott
Hotel City Centre. A few female IT professionals will talk briefly about
themselves and their jobs. There will then be time for discussion and networking.

I can't wait! I'm delighted to be one of the speakers and I'm looking forward to meeting
lots of new people.

All are welcome, whether attending ACCU or not. Men are welcome at all GGD but are
asked to come in the company of a woman so that women can experience being the majority.

Kate

Bristol Girl Geek Dinner Apr 11thhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=ac41cc0a-e349-406b-96c8-ad385675b220http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/BristolGirlGeekDinnerApr11th.aspx
Wed, 03 Apr 2013 22:54:11 GMT<p>
As it says on the <a href="http://bristolgirlgeekdinners.com/2013/04/03/next-dinner-bristol-ggd-26-girl-geeks-at-accu-2013-thursday-11th-april-2013/">Bristol
GGD </a>website:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
Our April dinner is being held on <strong>Thursday 11th</strong> in conjunction with
the <a href="http://accu.org/index.php/conferences">ACCU 2013</a> conference.
</p>
<p>
The event starts at <strong>7pm</strong> for 7.30pm, at the <strong>Bristol Marriott
Hotel City Centre</strong>. A few female IT professionals will talk briefly about
themselves and their jobs. There will then be time for discussion and networking.
</p>
<p>
Read more and register <a href="http://girlgeeksataccu2013.eventbrite.co.uk/#">http://girlgeeksataccu2013.eventbrite.co.uk/</a>
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
I can't wait! I'm delighted to be one of the speakers and I'm looking forward to meeting
lots of new people.
</p>
<img src="http://ebmedia.eventbrite.com/s3-s3/eventlogos/3209995/551458427.png">
<br>
All are welcome, whether attending ACCU or not. Men are welcome at all GGD but are
asked to come in the company of a woman so that women can experience being the majority.<br>
<p>
Kate<br>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=ac41cc0a-e349-406b-96c8-ad385675b220" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=ac41cc0a-e349-406b-96c8-ad385675b220Consulting LifeSeen and RecommendedSpeakingTravelhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=43bf7752-d0fd-4597-9456-ac9f18926be5http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=43bf7752-d0fd-4597-9456-ac9f18926be5Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=43bf7752-d0fd-4597-9456-ac9f18926be5http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=43bf7752-d0fd-4597-9456-ac9f18926be5
The week of April 8th, I'll be in Bristol,
UK, attending ACCU. I'm looking forward to it tremendously
- there is a great lineup of sessions and I only wish I could have spared the time
to stay on for the C++ committee meetings that will follow it. I am, however, making
the most of my time in that delightful city. Having enjoyed Guy
Smith-Ferrier's presentations in several different locations, including my own East
Of Toronto .NET User Group, I can now turn the tables and present at his.

Of course I want to do a C++ talk. But it's not a C++ group. So to be fair, I've decided
to do two talks:

First, Use All of Visual Studio to Become a Better Developer

Most developers know how to use Visual Studio to do the basics of being a developer.
You can create a solution, add projects to it, edit code, and run it. Easy, right?
In this session, I want to show you how to be a better developer by using parts of
Visual Studio you might not know about. Save hours of debugging time, move around
your code more smoothly and don't lose your place, see what you want to see and find
what you need to find. Demos will be in C# with Visual Studio 2012.

Second, C++ in 2013 – Why on earth?

There are so many languages a developer could use today. Yet some developers still
use C++. Some developers are learning C++ when they already know C# and other younger
languages. This session will show you why that is happening, and why you might want
to learn the new C++ yourself. It's nothing like the C++ you remember, and it can
be a very useful language for you to know.

Speaking in Bristol April 10thhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=43bf7752-d0fd-4597-9456-ac9f18926be5http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SpeakingInBristolApril10th.aspx
Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:55:53 GMTThe week of April 8th, I'll be in Bristol, UK, attending <a href="http://accu.org/">ACCU</a>.
I'm looking forward to it tremendously - there is a great lineup of sessions and I
only wish I could have spared the time to stay on for the C++ committee meetings that
will follow it. I am, however, making the most of my time in that delightful city.
Having enjoyed<a href="http://www.guysmithferrier.com/"> Guy Smith-Ferrier</a>'s presentations
in several different locations, including my own <a href="http://easttorontoug.com/">East
Of Toronto .NET User Group</a>, I can now turn the tables and present at his.<br>
<br>
Of course I want to do a C++ talk. But it's not a C++ group. So to be fair, I've decided
to do two talks:<br>
<br>
<blockquote>First, <b>Use All of Visual Studio to Become a Better Developer</b>
<br>
<br>
Most developers know how to use Visual Studio to do the basics of being a developer.
You can create a solution, add projects to it, edit code, and run it. Easy, right?
In this session, I want to show you how to be a better developer by using parts of
Visual Studio you might not know about. Save hours of debugging time, move around
your code more smoothly and don't lose your place, see what you want to see and find
what you need to find. Demos will be in C# with Visual Studio 2012.<br>
<br>
Second, <b>C++ in 2013 – Why on earth?</b>
<br>
<br>
There are so many languages a developer could use today. Yet some developers still
use C++. Some developers are learning C++ when they already know C# and other younger
languages. This session will show you why that is happening, and why you might want
to learn the new C++ yourself. It's nothing like the C++ you remember, and it can
be a very useful language for you to know.<br>
</blockquote><a href="http://www.dotnetdevnet.com/Meetings/tabid/54/EntryID/77/Default.aspx"><img src="http://www.dotnetdevnet.com/Portals/0/Logo2a.jpg"></a> Please
do <a href="http://www.dotnetdevnet.com/Meetings/tabid/54/EntryID/77/Default.aspx">register</a> for
these, and I hope to see you there!<br>
<br>
Kate<br>
<p>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=43bf7752-d0fd-4597-9456-ac9f18926be5" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=43bf7752-d0fd-4597-9456-ac9f18926be5C++Seen and RecommendedSpeakingTravelVisual Studio 11http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=fa8ca79b-c8ad-4132-b302-8899e8db6408http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=fa8ca79b-c8ad-4132-b302-8899e8db6408Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=fa8ca79b-c8ad-4132-b302-8899e8db6408http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=fa8ca79b-c8ad-4132-b302-8899e8db6408

Over the last few weeks, I've been accumulating links to appearances of mine, and
it seems like a good idea to share these.

OReilly webcast: This is
a reasonably horrible recording (sound quality and video size) of a webcast I did
back in August. It shows why C++ AMP is so cool and why you might care about it. I
recorded it to promote the book but
I'm not very happy with how it turned out. You'll probably do better with the recording
of my Tech Ed
talk.

It’s not just like, oh, I saved five seconds. I can go
home five seconds earlier today. It’s that you’re less likely to forget what you were
doing because you don’t have to put so much time into the mechanics and you just stay
in flow. And to me, that’s a ramping up of two or three times the amount of code I
can produce when I use everything the tool has to offer.

Dot Net Rocks panel
at DevIntersection: Here Scott Allen, Michele Leroux Bustamante, Woody Pewitt,
and I discuss whatever we feel like, with occasional leading questions from Carl and
Richard, and some Canadian whisky too.

Even though I haven't been blogging much, I have been doing a lot, and I hope these
links will help you to discover some of it.

Kate

Some recently released recordingshttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=fa8ca79b-c8ad-4132-b302-8899e8db6408http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SomeRecentlyReleasedRecordings.aspx
Fri, 04 Jan 2013 22:58:45 GMT<p>
Over the last few weeks, I've been accumulating links to appearances of mine, and
it seems like a good idea to share these.
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k1-P-lGa84">OReilly webcast</a>: This is
a reasonably horrible recording (sound quality and video size) of a webcast I did
back in August. It shows why C++ AMP is so cool and why you might care about it. I
recorded it to promote <a href="http://www.gregcons.com/cppamp/">the book </a>but
I'm not very happy with how it turned out. You'll probably do better with the recording
of <a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/Europe/2012/DEV334">my Tech Ed
talk</a>.</li>
<li>
<a href="http://blog.pluralsight.com/2012/12/11/meet-the-author-kate-gregory-on-introduction-to-visual-studio-2012-part-1/">Pluralsight
interview</a>: This is specifically about my <a href="http://pluralsight.com/training/courses/TableOfContents?courseName=vs2012-intro-part1&amp;utm_source=pluralsight&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_content=meet-the-author&amp;utm_campaign=content-marketing">Using
Visual Studio 2012</a> course. You can download the audio or read the transcript as
you prefer.&nbsp; My favourite quote from the conversation:</li>
</ul>
<blockquote><blockquote><i>It’s not just like, oh, I saved five seconds. I can go
home five seconds earlier today. It’s that you’re less likely to forget what you were
doing because you don’t have to put so much time into the mechanics and you just stay
in flow. And to me, that’s a ramping up of two or three times the amount of code I
can produce when I use everything the tool has to offer.</i></blockquote></blockquote>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://www.dotnetrocks.com/default.aspx?showNum=833">Dot Net Rocks panel
at DevIntersection</a>: Here Scott Allen, Michele Leroux Bustamante, Woody Pewitt,
and I discuss whatever we feel like, with occasional leading questions from Carl and
Richard, and some Canadian whisky too.</li>
</ul>
<p>
Even though I haven't been blogging much, I have been doing a lot, and I hope these
links will help you to discover some of it.
</p>
<p>
Kate<br>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=fa8ca79b-c8ad-4132-b302-8899e8db6408" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=fa8ca79b-c8ad-4132-b302-8899e8db6408C++Canadian ColourClient DevelopmentConcurrencyConsulting LifeSeen and RecommendedSpeakingVisual Studio 11Windows 8http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=c6e7689e-bcd6-4ea4-9ed8-c7b94ceea5f0http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=c6e7689e-bcd6-4ea4-9ed8-c7b94ceea5f0Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=c6e7689e-bcd6-4ea4-9ed8-c7b94ceea5f0http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=c6e7689e-bcd6-4ea4-9ed8-c7b94ceea5f0

While I was in Nashville as part of the Dot Net Rocks Roadtrip, we recorded an episode
of The Tablet Show. The recording
is online now and I'll have to give it a listen myself to remember what we talked
about - Hilo, for sure, and C++
AMP, and just generally why C++ can be a great choice for tablet development.

Kate

Nashville Episode of The Tablet Show is live nowhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=c6e7689e-bcd6-4ea4-9ed8-c7b94ceea5f0http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/NashvilleEpisodeOfTheTabletShowIsLiveNow.aspx
Tue, 20 Nov 2012 18:30:44 GMT<p>
While I was in Nashville as part of the Dot Net Rocks Roadtrip, we recorded an episode
of The Tablet Show. The <a href="http://www.thetabletshow.com/default.aspx?ShowNum=59">recording
is online </a>now and I'll have to give it a listen myself to remember what we talked
about - <a href="http://hilo.codeplex.com/">Hilo</a>, for sure, and<a href="http://www.gregcons.com/cppamp/"> C++
AMP</a>, and just generally why C++ can be a great choice for tablet development.
</p>
<p>
Kate<br>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=c6e7689e-bcd6-4ea4-9ed8-c7b94ceea5f0" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=c6e7689e-bcd6-4ea4-9ed8-c7b94ceea5f0C++Client DevelopmentConcurrencyConsulting LifeSeen and RecommendedSpeakinghttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=9e3fa0d6-44c9-4215-a18c-63beb4fcc0d8http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=9e3fa0d6-44c9-4215-a18c-63beb4fcc0d8Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=9e3fa0d6-44c9-4215-a18c-63beb4fcc0d8http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=9e3fa0d6-44c9-4215-a18c-63beb4fcc0d8

Don McCrady, who with Jim Radigan did an
inspiring talk on performance at Build this year, has blogged
about a proof-of-concept project that adds C++ AMP to CLANG and LLVM using OpenCL
underneath instead of using DirectX the way Visual Studio does. This is super cool!
As Don says:

When Microsoft announced
C++ AMP back in June 2011, we told you that we would release the C++
AMP specification under the Microsoft Community
Promise – essentially opening up the specification to allow any C++ compiler implementer
to add C++ AMP to their compiler. Shevlin Park serves as an example of the platform
portability potential intended by the Community Promise.

Do read Don's post and follow the links to learn more about Shevlin Park. The praise
for C++ AMP as a programming model, and the likelihood that multiple compilers will
support it, should make you feel all warm and fuzzy about learning it. You might even
want to use my book to do so :-)

Kate

C++ AMP in another compiler - not just a theory nowhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=9e3fa0d6-44c9-4215-a18c-63beb4fcc0d8http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CAMPInAnotherCompilerNotJustATheoryNow.aspx
Fri, 16 Nov 2012 18:19:40 GMT<p>
Don McCrady, who with Jim Radigan did <a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2012/3-013">an
inspiring talk on performance</a> at Build this year, has <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/nativeconcurrency/archive/2012/11/16/introducing-shevlin-park-a-proof-of-concept-c-amp-implementation-on-opencl.aspx">blogged
about</a> a proof-of-concept project that adds C++ AMP to CLANG and LLVM using OpenCL
underneath instead of using DirectX the way Visual Studio does. This is super cool!
As Don says:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
When Microsoft <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/somasegar/archive/2011/06/15/targeting-heterogeneity-with-c-amp-and-ppl.aspx">announced
C++ AMP</a> back in June 2011, we told you that we would release the <a href="http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/0/E/40EA02D8-23A7-4BD2-AD3A-0BFFFB640F28/CppAMPLanguageAndProgrammingModel.pdf">C++
AMP specification</a> under the Microsoft <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/openspecifications/en/us/programs/community-promise/default.aspx">Community
Promise</a> – essentially opening up the specification to allow any C++ compiler implementer
to add C++ AMP to their compiler. Shevlin Park serves as an example of the platform
portability potential intended by the Community Promise.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
Do read Don's post and follow the links to learn more about Shevlin Park. The praise
for C++ AMP as a programming model, and the likelihood that multiple compilers will
support it, should make you feel all warm and fuzzy about learning it. You might even
want to use <a href="http://www.gregcons.com/cppamp/">my book</a> to do so :-)
</p>
<p>
Kate<br>
</p>
<p>
<br>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=9e3fa0d6-44c9-4215-a18c-63beb4fcc0d8" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=9e3fa0d6-44c9-4215-a18c-63beb4fcc0d8C++Client DevelopmentConcurrencySeen and RecommendedVisual Studio 11http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=76dcfdcd-0b74-4ec6-8cf9-0586a26f545fhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=76dcfdcd-0b74-4ec6-8cf9-0586a26f545fKate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=76dcfdcd-0b74-4ec6-8cf9-0586a26f545fhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=76dcfdcd-0b74-4ec6-8cf9-0586a26f545f

One of the stickers for the badge this year was to attend an 8:30 session. I achieved
that by going to Alive
with activity: Tiles, notifications, and background tasks which, to be honest,
I chose as much to see what Kraig Brockschmidt is doing lately as to learn about tiles
and toast. But I'm glad I went, because it was a very good talk.

I've come to Redmond so many times, but I never particularly noticed the colours changing.
This week they've been spectacular. I had some meetings in other buildings so I was
able to get out of the giant lines at least long enough to take pictures of the giant
lines :-)

And yes, it rained, but they were ready for that:

I really like the vibe that came from being on campus. Speakers tended to get up from
their desks, jump on a shuttle or walk over, pull on the shirt and talk to us. I really
got the sense we were being welcomed into their home.

KateScenes from Build 2012 - Day 3http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=76dcfdcd-0b74-4ec6-8cf9-0586a26f545fhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/ScenesFromBuild2012Day3.aspx
Fri, 02 Nov 2012 17:00:10 GMT<p>
One of the stickers for the badge this year was to attend an 8:30 session. I achieved
that by going to <a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2012/3-101">Alive
with activity: Tiles, notifications, and background tasks</a> which, to be honest,
I chose as much to see what Kraig Brockschmidt is doing lately as to learn about tiles
and toast. But I'm glad I went, because it was a very good talk.
</p>
<p>
<img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/fallcolours.jpg" border="0">
</p>
<p>
I've come to Redmond so many times, but I never particularly noticed the colours changing.
This week they've been spectacular. I had some meetings in other buildings so I was
able to get out of the giant lines at least long enough to take pictures of the giant
lines :-)
</p>
<p>
<br>
</p>
<p>
</p>
<img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/lunchwalk.jpg" border="0">
<br>
<br>
And yes, it rained, but they were ready for that:<br>
<br>
<br>
<img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/umbrellas.jpg" border="0">
<br>
<br>
I really like the vibe that came from being on campus. Speakers tended to get up from
their desks, jump on a shuttle or walk over, pull on the shirt and talk to us. I really
got the sense we were being welcomed into their home.
<br>
<br>
I also went to <a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2012/3-001">Tips for
building a Windows Store app using XAML and C++: The Hilo project</a> - how could
I not, since I was on the project. Excellent summary of some hard-learned lessons
and one you should totally download and watch.
<br>
<br>
Kate<br>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=76dcfdcd-0b74-4ec6-8cf9-0586a26f545f" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=76dcfdcd-0b74-4ec6-8cf9-0586a26f545fC++Client DevelopmentConsulting LifeSeen and RecommendedTravelVisual Studio 11Windows 8http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=6ae0f526-a40b-4215-bfe1-9f8e5ecbb5fahttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=6ae0f526-a40b-4215-bfe1-9f8e5ecbb5faKate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=6ae0f526-a40b-4215-bfe1-9f8e5ecbb5fahttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=6ae0f526-a40b-4215-bfe1-9f8e5ecbb5fa
Build this year is less focused on announcing
things (though the Windows phone and native C++ material is brand new) and more on
drilling down into topics that we've had a year to experiment with and want some deep
study on. Most of the speakers are from product teams. What's fun for me is that most
of the attendees are very motivated and here to learn.

This room was standing room only. It's possible all the C++ talks were, I don't always
sit at the back where I can see whether people are standing back there or not. And
you may not be able to tell from the picture but there were plenty of young developers
there too.

There was also a nice session
on Project Austin which is a lovely reference app showing how to use DirectX in
a Windows Store app. You can get the code from
Codeplex and take a look at it yourself or just use it to take beautiful notes
on a tablet.

Speaking of reference apps, Hilo (which I've written about before) is now an
official sample in the SDK and on the Dev Center. There's a Hilo
session here at Build too. Within a day or two these links should have recordings
and slides for you to download.

Scenes from Build 2012 - Day 2http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=6ae0f526-a40b-4215-bfe1-9f8e5ecbb5fahttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/ScenesFromBuild2012Day2.aspx
Thu, 01 Nov 2012 00:45:47 GMTBuild this year is less focused on announcing things (though the Windows phone and native C++ material is brand new) and more on drilling down into topics that we've had a year to experiment with and want some deep study on. Most of the speakers are from product teams. What's fun for me is that most of the attendees are very motivated and here to learn.<br>
<br>
I'm also enjoying how full the rooms are for C++ sessions. Here's <a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2012/3-000">Tarek's
Day 1 session</a>:<br>
<br>
<p>
</p>
<img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/tarekroom.jpg" border="0">
<br>
<br>
BTW, that was session 3-000 demonstrating that (a) the sessions are numbered using
zero-based indexing and (b) the C++ sessions were first on the list.
<br>
<br>
And here's the <a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2012/3-013">C++ performance
talk </a>from right after the keynote this morning:<br>
<br>
<img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/perfroom.jpg" border="0">
<br>
<br>
This room was standing room only. It's possible all the C++ talks were, I don't always
sit at the back where I can see whether people are standing back there or not. And
you may not be able to tell from the picture but there were plenty of young developers
there too.<br>
<br>
There was also a nice <a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2012/4-001">session
on Project Austin</a> which is a lovely reference app showing how to use DirectX in
a Windows Store app. You can get <a href="http://austin.codeplex.com/">the code from
Codeplex</a> and take a look at it yourself or just use it to take beautiful notes
on a tablet.<br>
<br>
Speaking of reference apps, Hilo (which I've written about before) is now <a href="http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/windowsapps/Hilo-C-sample-b53fd433">an
official sample </a>in the SDK and on the Dev Center. There's a <a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2012/3-001">Hilo
session </a>here at Build too. Within a day or two these links should have recordings
and slides for you to download.<br>
<br>
Want to know more about C++ at Build? Here's <a href="http://herbsutter.com/2012/10/31/90-seconds-build-its-a-great-week-for-c/">less
than two minutes on just that topic</a>. If you can, please watch <a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2012/2-005">Herb's
talk on Friday</a>. It promises to be exciting!<br>
<br>
Kate<br>
<br>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=6ae0f526-a40b-4215-bfe1-9f8e5ecbb5fa" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=6ae0f526-a40b-4215-bfe1-9f8e5ecbb5faC++Client DevelopmentConcurrencySeen and RecommendedVisual Studio 11Windows 8http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=c7604020-775a-4dde-95aa-9fab6fc60911http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=c7604020-775a-4dde-95aa-9fab6fc60911Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=c7604020-775a-4dde-95aa-9fab6fc60911http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=c7604020-775a-4dde-95aa-9fab6fc609111

Microsoft and Stack Overflow are joining forces on a fun Windows
8 development contest. And since one of the strengths of StackOverlflow is how
the community reviews all the content, it only makes sense that there's a serious
review component to this contest! And it's not US-only (for once!) so as long as you're
over 18 and don't live in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan or Syria you're good to go.
Well, you need a StackOverflow account, but you needed one of those anyway, right?

Windows 8 app contest - you can win by entering or judginghttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=c7604020-775a-4dde-95aa-9fab6fc60911http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Windows8AppContestYouCanWinByEnteringOrJudging.aspx
Fri, 19 Oct 2012 22:13:41 GMT<p>
Microsoft and Stack Overflow are joining forces on a fun <a href="http://apptivate.ms/contest">Windows
8 development contest</a>. And since one of the strengths of StackOverlflow is how
the community reviews all the content, it only makes sense that there's a serious
review component to this contest! And it's not US-only (for once!) so as long as you're
over 18 and don't live in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan or Syria you're good to go.
Well, you need a StackOverflow account, but you needed one of those anyway, right?
</p>
<p>
<a href="http://apptivate.ms/contest"><img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/apptivate.jpg" border="0"></a><a></a>
</p>
<p>
<a>Top prize is $5,000 and there are shiny achievements and everything - so </a><a href="http://apptivate.ms/contest">get
going</a>!
</p>
<p>
Kate
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=c7604020-775a-4dde-95aa-9fab6fc60911" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=c7604020-775a-4dde-95aa-9fab6fc60911Client DevelopmentSeen and RecommendedWindows 8http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=358ab02b-a472-41b1-aa9d-542182a3ccd0http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=358ab02b-a472-41b1-aa9d-542182a3ccd0Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=358ab02b-a472-41b1-aa9d-542182a3ccd0http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=358ab02b-a472-41b1-aa9d-542182a3ccd0
I love the fact that big-name speakers
are willing to come and speak at the East of Toronto .NET User Group. You don't have
to live in a big city (or struggle through big-city traffic on a visit) to keep up
to date with the latest technology and meet fellow developers. The latest example:

Beth Massi is a Senior Program Manager on the Visual Studio team at Microsoft. Beth
is a community champion for business application developers and has over 15 years
of industry experience building business apps. She is a frequent speaker at various
software development events and you can find her on a variety of developer sites including
MSDN Developer Centers, Channel
9, and her blog http://www.bethmassi.com.
Follow her on twitter @BethMassi

And what will she be talking about?

Visual Studio LightSwitch is the easiest way to create modern line of business applications
for the enterprise. In this session you will learn how LightSwitch helps you focus
your time on what makes your application unique, allowing you to easily implement
common business application scenarios—such as integrating multiple data sources, data
validation, authentication, and access control. See how LightSwitch in Visual Studio
2012 has embraced OData making it easy to consume as well as create interoperable
data services. Then see how LightSwitch makes it easy to deploy these services to
the Azure cloud and consume them from other client applications and platforms. You
will also see how the LightSwitch team is enabling mobile scenarios making it easy
to create HTML5/JavaScript companion clients for modern mobile devices.

KateBeth Massi at East of Toronto .NET User Grouphttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=358ab02b-a472-41b1-aa9d-542182a3ccd0http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/BethMassiAtEastOfTorontoNETUserGroup.aspx
Thu, 18 Oct 2012 21:43:53 GMTI love the fact that big-name speakers are willing to come and speak at the East of Toronto .NET User Group. You don't have to live in a big city (or struggle through big-city traffic on a visit) to keep up to date with the latest technology and meet fellow developers. The latest example:<br>
<br>
<p>
</p>
<a href="http://easttorontoug20121205.eventbrite.ca/#"><img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/bethmassi.jpg" border="0"></a>
<br>
<br>
<p>
As the <a href="http://easttorontoug20121205.eventbrite.ca/#">website </a>says:<br>
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
Beth Massi is a Senior Program Manager on the Visual Studio team at Microsoft. Beth
is a community champion for business application developers and has over 15 years
of industry experience building business apps. She is a frequent speaker at various
software development events and you can find her on a variety of developer sites including
MSDN Developer Centers, <a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/blogs/funkyonex" target="_blank">Channel
9</a>, and her blog <a href="http://www.bethmassi.com" target="_blank">http://www.bethmassi.com</a>.
Follow her on twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/BethMassi" target="_blank">@BethMassi</a>
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
And what will she be talking about?<br>
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
Visual Studio LightSwitch is the easiest way to create modern line of business applications
for the enterprise. In this session you will learn how LightSwitch helps you focus
your time on what makes your application unique, allowing you to easily implement
common business application scenarios—such as integrating multiple data sources, data
validation, authentication, and access control. See how LightSwitch in Visual Studio
2012 has embraced OData making it easy to consume as well as create interoperable
data services. Then see how LightSwitch makes it easy to deploy these services to
the Azure cloud and consume them from other client applications and platforms. You
will also see how the LightSwitch team is enabling mobile scenarios making it easy
to create HTML5/JavaScript companion clients for modern mobile devices.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
When and where?<br>
</p>
<p>
<strong>Event Agenda</strong>
</p>
<table style="border-color: black; border-collapse: collapse;" id="Agenda" rules="all" cellspacing="0" border="1" height="65" width="388">
<tbody>
<tr style="font-weight: bold; background-color: gainsboro;">
<td>
Time</td>
<td>
Title</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
6:30 - 7:00</td>
<td>
Socialize and refreshments</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
7:00 - 8:30</td>
<td>
Presentation</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>
</p>
<strong></strong><a href="http://binged.it/w4kQsr">Pickering Central Library</a> Auditorium
(2nd floor)<br>
<p>
One the Esplanade<br>
Pickering, ON L1V 6K7<br>
</p>
<a href="http://easttorontoug20121205.eventbrite.ca/#">Register now </a>- it's a good
way to spend a Wednesday night.<br>
<br>
Kate<br>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=358ab02b-a472-41b1-aa9d-542182a3ccd0" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=358ab02b-a472-41b1-aa9d-542182a3ccd0Client DevelopmentSeen and Recommendedhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=a813197c-4c8b-493e-a51c-b19671976b65http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=a813197c-4c8b-493e-a51c-b19671976b65Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=a813197c-4c8b-493e-a51c-b19671976b65http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=a813197c-4c8b-493e-a51c-b19671976b65

I love writing courses for Pluralsight. I can reach a lot of people and I know the
production quality will be top notch. My most recent course is Introduction
to Visual Studio 2012 Part 1. It's aimed at people who've never used Visual Studio
before, but even a seasoned user will learn something from it - just use the cool
speedup feature to zip through things that are already familiar, like the difference
between a project and a solution. I cover some very nice productivity features and
there's sure to be something in there that's new to you.

Another recent Pluralsight development is that the MSDN Subscriber benefit has expanded
to cover MSDN subscribers worldwide, not just in the US, and five more courses were
added. If you have an MSDN subscription, you can watch all these courses free:

Agile Team Practices with Scrum

ALM for Developers with Visual Studio 2012

ALM with Team Foundation Server 2010

ALM with TFS 2012 Fundamentals

Building Windows 8 Metro Apps with C# and XAML

Building Windows 8 Metro Apps with C++ and XAML

C# Fundamentals - Part 1

C++ Fundamentals

Continuous Integration

Developing for Windows 7

IntelliTrace

Introduction to .NET Debugging using Visual Studio 2010

Introduction to Building Windows 8 Applications

Introduction to Visual Studio 2010 - Part 1

Introduction to Visual Studio 2010 - Part 2

Introduction to Visual Studio 2012 - Part 1

Introduction to Windows 7 Development

Kanban Fundamentals

Microsoft Fakes Fundamentals

Solution Modeling with UML in Visual Studio 2010

Test First Development - Part 1

Test First Development - Part 2

Web Application Performance and Scalability Testing

Windows Azure Diagnostics

Windows Phone 7 Basics

The bolded ones are mine. Here's
how to sign up - do it by Dec 11th 2012 - and get your one year free access to
all these great courses!

Kate

My Latest Pluralsight course - Introduction to Visual Studio 2012 - Part 1http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=a813197c-4c8b-493e-a51c-b19671976b65http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/MyLatestPluralsightCourseIntroductionToVisualStudio2012Part1.aspx
Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:35:44 GMT<p>
I love writing courses for Pluralsight. I can reach a lot of people and I know the
production quality will be top notch. My most recent course is <a href="http://pluralsight.com/training/Courses/TableOfContents/vs2012-intro-part1">Introduction
to Visual Studio 2012 Part 1</a>. It's aimed at people who've never used Visual Studio
before, but even a seasoned user will learn something from it - just use the cool
speedup feature to zip through things that are already familiar, like the difference
between a project and a solution. I cover some very nice productivity features and
there's sure to be something in there that's new to you.
</p>
<p>
Another recent Pluralsight development is that the MSDN Subscriber benefit has expanded
to cover MSDN subscribers worldwide, not just in the US, and five more courses were
added. If you have an MSDN subscription, you can watch all these courses free:
</p>
<p>
</p>
<ul>
<li>
Agile Team Practices with Scrum</li>
<li>
ALM for Developers with Visual Studio 2012</li>
<li>
ALM with Team Foundation Server 2010</li>
<li>
ALM with TFS 2012 Fundamentals</li>
<li>
Building Windows 8 Metro Apps with C# and XAML</li>
<li>
<b>Building Windows 8 Metro Apps with C++ and XAML</b>
</li>
<li>
C# Fundamentals - Part 1</li>
<li>
<b>C++ Fundamentals</b>
</li>
<li>
Continuous Integration</li>
<li>
Developing for Windows 7</li>
<li>
IntelliTrace</li>
<li>
Introduction to .NET Debugging using Visual Studio 2010</li>
<li>
Introduction to Building Windows 8 Applications</li>
<li>
<b>Introduction to Visual Studio 2010 - Part 1</b>
</li>
<li>
<b>Introduction to Visual Studio 2010 - Part 2</b>
</li>
<li>
<b>Introduction to Visual Studio 2012 - Part 1</b>
</li>
<li>
<b>Introduction to Windows 7 Development</b>
</li>
<li>
Kanban Fundamentals</li>
<li>
Microsoft Fakes Fundamentals</li>
<li>
Solution Modeling with UML in Visual Studio 2010</li>
<li>
Test First Development - Part 1</li>
<li>
Test First Development - Part 2</li>
<li>
Web Application Performance and Scalability Testing</li>
<li>
Windows Azure Diagnostics</li>
<li>
Windows Phone 7 Basics</li>
</ul>
<p>
<br>
The bolded ones are mine. <a href="http://blog.pluralsight.com/2012/10/11/pluralsight-for-msdn-subscribers-worldwide/">Here's
how to sign up</a> - do it by Dec 11th 2012 - and get your one year free access to
all these great courses!
</p>
<p>
Kate<br>
</p>
<p>
<br>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=a813197c-4c8b-493e-a51c-b19671976b65" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=a813197c-4c8b-493e-a51c-b19671976b65Consulting LifeSeen and Recommendedhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=3bbe13f1-90bf-4e6b-a791-bb2819b76dc9http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=3bbe13f1-90bf-4e6b-a791-bb2819b76dc9Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=3bbe13f1-90bf-4e6b-a791-bb2819b76dc9http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=3bbe13f1-90bf-4e6b-a791-bb2819b76dc9

Hilo is a reference project written in C++/CX for Windows 8 by the Patterns and Practices
team. I was delighted to be part of this project and think it turned out very well.
I use the Hilo codebase to remind myself how to do certain things when writing a Windows
Store app in C++ (something I'm in the middle of doing for another project.) The accompanying
document is rich in best practices for Windows 8 development, async work, modern C++,
unit testing, and more. Now the latest version has
been released, updated for Windows 8 RTM.

Hilo itself is a photo viewer. Before you roll your eyes, bear with me. I actually
think it's better than the one that ships with Windows 8. It shows you some of your
pictures as a sort of overview:

Click on one to interact with it. You can right-click to bring up both the app bar
at the bottom and a nice strip-navigation control at the top:

If you want to see something cool, use Cartoon Effect. This leverages C++ AMP to cartoonize
the picture. I've shopped this image a little to reduce the width (pulled the appbar
in from the edges) but the cartoon work was done by Hilo - and super quickly.

If you have any thoughts of writing Windows Store apps, and C++ is a possibility for
you, get over to Codeplex, download the Hilo
code and the .chm file, and get reading!

Kate

Hilo has been updated for Windows 8 RTMhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=3bbe13f1-90bf-4e6b-a791-bb2819b76dc9http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/HiloHasBeenUpdatedForWindows8RTM.aspx
Mon, 15 Oct 2012 17:17:12 GMT<p>
Hilo is a reference project written in C++/CX for Windows 8 by the Patterns and Practices
team. I was delighted to be part of this project and think it turned out very well.
I use the Hilo codebase to remind myself how to do certain things when writing a Windows
Store app in C++ (something I'm in the middle of doing for another project.) The accompanying
document is rich in best practices for Windows 8 development, async work, modern C++,
unit testing, and more. Now <a href="http://hilo.codeplex.com">the latest version</a> has
been released, updated for Windows 8 RTM.
</p>
<p>
Hilo itself is a photo viewer. Before you roll your eyes, bear with me. I actually
think it's better than the one that ships with Windows 8. It shows you some of your
pictures as a sort of overview:
</p>
<p>
<img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/hilo shot.jpg" border="0" width="600">
</p>
<p>
Click on one to interact with it. You can right-click to bring up both the app bar
at the bottom and a nice strip-navigation control at the top:
</p>
<p>
<img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/hilo2.jpg" border="0">
</p>
<p>
If you want to see something cool, use Cartoon Effect. This leverages C++ AMP to cartoonize
the picture. I've shopped this image a little to reduce the width (pulled the appbar
in from the edges) but the cartoon work was done by Hilo - and super quickly.
</p>
<p>
<img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/hilo3.jpg" border="0">
</p>
<p>
If you have any thoughts of writing Windows Store apps, and C++ is a possibility for
you, get over to <a href="http://hilo.codeplex.com">Codeplex</a>, download the Hilo
code and the .chm file, and get reading!
</p>
<p>
Kate
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=3bbe13f1-90bf-4e6b-a791-bb2819b76dc9" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=3bbe13f1-90bf-4e6b-a791-bb2819b76dc9C++Client DevelopmentConcurrencyConsulting LifeSeen and RecommendedVisual Studio 11Windows 8http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=88ebe77c-7b05-45f1-8960-b27fde683521http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=88ebe77c-7b05-45f1-8960-b27fde683521Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=88ebe77c-7b05-45f1-8960-b27fde683521http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=88ebe77c-7b05-45f1-8960-b27fde6835211
I’ve been writing a book, though I swore
I wouldn’t write any more books, and it’s finally done! You can buy a Kindle version
from Amazon or an e-book directly from O’Reilly today. The paper copies will be ready
in about a week and you can order them from O’Reilly or Amazon. The book is published
by Microsoft Press, but O’Reilly handles the actual production of the books.

I’ve got a page dedicated to the book with
links for you to buy it, get the code, submit errata, and whatever else you might
want. (If you think something’s missing, comment here and I’ll try to take care of
it.)

KateThe C++ AMP book is printed!http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=88ebe77c-7b05-45f1-8960-b27fde683521http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/TheCAMPBookIsPrinted.aspx
Fri, 28 Sep 2012 18:50:54 GMTI’ve been writing a book, though I swore I wouldn’t write any more books, and it’s finally done! You can buy a Kindle version from Amazon or an e-book directly from O’Reilly today. The paper copies will be ready in about a week and you can order them from O’Reilly or Amazon. The book is published by Microsoft Press, but O’Reilly handles the actual production of the books.<p>
</p>
<img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/cover.jpg" border="0">
<br>
&nbsp;I’ve got <a href="http://www.gregcons.com/cppamp/">a page dedicated to the book</a> with
links for you to buy it, get the code, submit errata, and whatever else you might
want. (If you think something’s missing, comment here and I’ll try to take care of
it.)<br>
<br>
Kate<br>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=88ebe77c-7b05-45f1-8960-b27fde683521" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=88ebe77c-7b05-45f1-8960-b27fde683521C++Client DevelopmentConcurrencyConsulting LifeSeen and RecommendedVisual Studio 11http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=91a586c2-d4b9-421f-b931-f5b51946941ehttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=91a586c2-d4b9-421f-b931-f5b51946941eKate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=91a586c2-d4b9-421f-b931-f5b51946941ehttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=91a586c2-d4b9-421f-b931-f5b51946941e

Two years ago or so, when Visual Studio 2010 launched, the crazy duo of Richard Campbell
and Carl Franklin – if you’re a Dot Net Rocks listener, they’re the voices in your
head – took their show on the road and drove an RV across the USA holding live Dot
Net Rocks evenings pretty much every night for weeks on end. Each city featured a
surprise “rockstar” flown in for the occasion. I
did St Louis and had a great time. Now they’re doing
it again and this time announcing us in advance – I’ll be in Nashville Oct 24th.

Registration is free, and please do register using the big red Register button for
your city (I hope to see you in Nashville). You can track
them online too and follow the #dnrRoadTrip hashtag on Twitter.

If you’re in Toronto, don’t miss the October 13th Saturday-a-ganza at the
Microsoft Canada offices featuring Michele Leroux Bustmante! I know I won’t!

Kate

Appearing in Nashville with the Dot Net Rocks Tourhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=91a586c2-d4b9-421f-b931-f5b51946941ehttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/AppearingInNashvilleWithTheDotNetRocksTour.aspx
Thu, 27 Sep 2012 18:19:21 GMT<p>
Two years ago or so, when Visual Studio 2010 launched, the crazy duo of Richard Campbell
and Carl Franklin – if you’re a Dot Net Rocks listener, they’re the voices in your
head – took their show on the road and drove an RV across the USA holding live Dot
Net Rocks evenings pretty much every night for weeks on end. Each city featured a
surprise “rockstar” flown in for the occasion. <a href="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/NETRocksInStLouis.aspx">I
did St Louis</a> and had a great time. Now they’re <a href="http://www.dotnetrocks.com/roadtrip.aspx">doing
it again</a> and this time announcing us in advance – I’ll be in Nashville Oct 24<sup>th</sup>.
</p>
<img src="http://www.dotnetrocks.com/rtGraphics/DNRRoadTripWeb.jpg">
<p>
Registration is free, and please do register using the big red Register button for
your city (I hope to see you in Nashville). You can <a href="http://dnrroadshow.cloudapp.net/">track
them online too</a> and follow the #dnrRoadTrip hashtag on Twitter.
</p>
<p>
If you’re in Toronto, don’t miss the October 13<sup>th</sup> Saturday-a-ganza at the
Microsoft Canada offices featuring Michele Leroux Bustmante! I know I won’t!
</p>
<p>
Kate
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=91a586c2-d4b9-421f-b931-f5b51946941e" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=91a586c2-d4b9-421f-b931-f5b51946941eConsulting LifeRDSeen and RecommendedSpeakingTravelVisual Studio 11Windows 8http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=82dd86ec-860d-4dd4-bcb3-4ba9314d1398http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=82dd86ec-860d-4dd4-bcb3-4ba9314d1398Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=82dd86ec-860d-4dd4-bcb3-4ba9314d1398http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=82dd86ec-860d-4dd4-bcb3-4ba9314d1398

I love writing courses for Pluralsight.
I have quite a few and am working on more
right now. They like to interview their authors about each course. Here's
one about my latest for them. If you’ve done the whole course you won’t learn
anything new from the interview, but if you’re curious about writing what we’re now
calling Windows Store applications for Windows 8 using C++ and Visual Studio, perhaps
this interview will help you decide whether it’s something you want to learn. There’s
a transcript as well as an audio link.

We now have a Windows
Phone application in the marketplace. We wrote it for ourselves, to learn the
framework and to give us a way to track how we spend our time. The minute we started
designing it, we discovered everyone in the company wanted a different way to track.
People who do pretty much the same thing all the time (coding, for example) wanted
to track project-by-project. People who work on only one project at a time wanted
to differentiate between types of work, like meetings or email or writing documents.
We decided to make it as simple and flexible as we could. I was inspired by a story
of a time tracking technique involving physical objects. You get 5-10 paper cups and
write things on the cups like Email, Meetings, and so on. Then you get 32 poker chips,
all the same colour. As each 15-minute piece of time goes by, you toss a chip into
the cup. It is supposed to help you understand that you very literally “spend” your
time. And at the end of the day you can look in the cups and see where your day went.

If you’d like to track your time
like this – hit the + button to toss a “15 minute” square into a particular “bucket”
or just hit the falling drops button to accumulate time in one bucket until you change
tasks – please try our app and let
me know how it works for you.

First, here are some links to some other good posts on the topic. Here's me
a year ago, pointing to John Bristowe's suggestions for going to a big conference.
And here's me
18 months ago, pointing to Joey deVilla's suggestions for meeting people and talking
to them. And here's a great
question (with an answer from me) on Programmers.StackExchange about networking
at conferences. (BTW I met the asker of that question in person at Tech Ed, which
was great for both of us.) And here's me
four years ago with some details on choosing talks to attend.

Now, here's the super condensed version of my advice:

Plan your sessions in advance, at least two per timeslot. Carry a paper list of session
names and room numbers so if you decide to bail on one, you know exactly where to
run to, even if your electronics are out of battery and there's no wifi.

Wear comfortable shoes and clothes, but not so comfortable that you would feel underdressed
when talking to a potential employer or other business contacts. You will walk a LOT
so choose those shoes with special care. It will be both stinking hot (outside - many
conferences are held in hot places at muggy times) and freezing cold (if you end up
right under the AC that is set on stun) so have a layering approach.

Bring your own bag so you can tell it apart from everyone else's, and know just where
to find things you need. Leave as much as you possibly can in the hotel room, to save
your back during all that walking and to minimize what you might lose if there's any
kind of bag mishap.

Eat at the conference - it's a great time to meet people and this is where I usually
bump into people I know.

Go to the trade show floor, the community area, and the like multiple times. Serendipity
will happen but you have to give it a chance

Pack a somewhat larger bag than you need to - there is a lot of swag at Tech Ed and
first timers can't resist lining up for TShirts and the like. Don't be that person
who stuffs it all in the conference bag and checks a second bag on the way home. For
one thing, someone may accidentally pick up your conference bag thinking it is theirs.
Your conference bag and all your other swag should fit in your main bag.

Pack your days and evenings FULL. Don't you dare watch TV in your hotel room! Go to
the labs and try something you always wanted to learn a little more about. Download
something that was just released and try it. Go to a party. Write up your notes (or
better yet, blog them.) Send your boss late night emails about what a great time you're
having and how much you're learning. Watch one of the sessions you didn't get to that
day and then figure out if the speaker is likely still at the conference and how you
can arrange to find that speaker and say thanks for the talk or ask a question. Fill
out the evals for the talks you went to. There is SO MUCH you can do while you're
on site, so try very hard to do it all. Make the most of the week, make it intense,
and you will get more out of it by fully engaging.

Try to do at least a few hours of sightseeing - one afternoon or evening - with some
friends if you can. Maybe the attendee party is being held in some iconic location?
Go to that. Or there's a restaurant in the town that you've always wanted to eat at?
Gather a few folks and arrange something. Twitter is great with the conference hashtag
- "who wants to go to XYZ tonight?" - I've done this for going on tours too. Gives
you fellow geeks to talk to while you sightsee and strengthens friendships if you
go with people you only know professionally. But don't overdo the sightseeing - you're
here for the conference, remember.

I hope I see you there! The better prepared you are, the more benefit you will get
from the conference!

Kate

Conference Attendee Tipshttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=a0966347-5053-451f-a3eb-795afa6cf569http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/ConferenceAttendeeTips.aspx
Thu, 31 May 2012 15:24:04 GMTRecently one of my staff went to a week-long conference - her first. I gave her some tips before she went and it occurred to me that others might like them too. I hope you'll apply them to a trip to Tech Ed or some other conference where you can hear me speak.<br>
<br>
First, here are some links to some other good posts on the topic. Here's <a href="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/ReadyForTechEd.aspx">me
a year ago</a>, pointing to John Bristowe's suggestions for going to a big conference.
And here's <a href="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/AdviceOnTalkingToHumansAtConferences.aspx">me
18 months ago</a>, pointing to Joey deVilla's suggestions for meeting people and talking
to them. And here's <a href="http://programmers.stackexchange.com/q/77102/285">a great
question</a> (with an answer from me) on Programmers.StackExchange about networking
at conferences. (BTW I met the asker of that question in person at Tech Ed, which
was great for both of us.) And here's <a href="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/TechEdTipsForFirstTimers.aspx">me
four years</a> ago with some details on choosing talks to attend.<br>
<br>
Now, here's the super condensed version of my advice:<br>
<ul>
<li>
Plan your sessions in advance, at least two per timeslot. Carry a paper list of session
names and room numbers so if you decide to bail on one, you know exactly where to
run to, even if your electronics are out of battery and there's no wifi.</li>
<li>
Wear comfortable shoes and clothes, but not so comfortable that you would feel underdressed
when talking to a potential employer or other business contacts. You will walk a LOT
so choose those shoes with special care. It will be both stinking hot (outside - many
conferences are held in hot places at muggy times) and freezing cold (if you end up
right under the AC that is set on stun) so have a layering approach.</li>
<li>
Bring your own bag so you can tell it apart from everyone else's, and know just where
to find things you need. Leave as much as you possibly can in the hotel room, to save
your back during all that walking and to minimize what you might lose if there's any
kind of bag mishap.</li>
<li>
Eat at the conference - it's a great time to meet people and this is where I usually
bump into people I know.
<br>
</li>
<li>
Go to the trade show floor, the community area, and the like multiple times. Serendipity
will happen but you have to give it a chance</li>
<li>
Pack a somewhat larger bag than you need to - there is a lot of swag at Tech Ed and
first timers can't resist lining up for TShirts and the like. Don't be that person
who stuffs it all in the conference bag and checks a second bag on the way home. For
one thing, someone may accidentally pick up your conference bag thinking it is theirs.
Your conference bag and all your other swag should fit in your main bag.</li>
<li>
Pack your days and evenings FULL. Don't you dare watch TV in your hotel room! Go to
the labs and try something you always wanted to learn a little more about. Download
something that was just released and try it. Go to a party. Write up your notes (or
better yet, blog them.) Send your boss late night emails about what a great time you're
having and how much you're learning. Watch one of the sessions you didn't get to that
day and then figure out if the speaker is likely still at the conference and how you
can arrange to find that speaker and say thanks for the talk or ask a question. Fill
out the evals for the talks you went to. There is SO MUCH you can do while you're
on site, so try very hard to do it all. Make the most of the week, make it intense,
and you will get more out of it by fully engaging.</li>
<li>
Try to do at least a few hours of sightseeing - one afternoon or evening - with some
friends if you can. Maybe the attendee party is being held in some iconic location?
Go to that. Or there's a restaurant in the town that you've always wanted to eat at?
Gather a few folks and arrange something. Twitter is great with the conference hashtag
- "who wants to go to XYZ tonight?" - I've done this for going on tours too. Gives
you fellow geeks to talk to while you sightsee and strengthens friendships if you
go with people you only know professionally. But don't overdo the sightseeing - you're
here for the conference, remember.<br>
</li>
</ul>
<p>
I hope I see you there! The better prepared you are, the more benefit you will get
from the conference!
</p>
<p>
Kate<br>
</p>
<br>
<p>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=a0966347-5053-451f-a3eb-795afa6cf569" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=a0966347-5053-451f-a3eb-795afa6cf569Consulting LifeMentoringSeen and RecommendedSpeakingTravelhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=8d2b53e5-a15d-41d5-a0b8-1aad628f0017http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=8d2b53e5-a15d-41d5-a0b8-1aad628f0017Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=8d2b53e5-a15d-41d5-a0b8-1aad628f0017http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=8d2b53e5-a15d-41d5-a0b8-1aad628f0017

I've been putting my schedule together for the talks I want to attend at Tech
Ed North America and Tech Ed Europe this
year. While I wasn't looking, a bunch more C++ content was added.

Plus some language agnostic sessions that chose to put C++ in their session descriptions,
which is a new thing these days.

Now as it happens, Tech Ed North America is sold
out, so if you're not registered yet, you have three choices: join the waiting
list, watch these sessions online, or get your boss to agree to a slightly larger
T&E budget and head to Tech Ed Europe in Amsterdam just two weeks later. There
we will have:

One way or another, please attend or watch these sessions. There's a lot of new stuff
happening!

Kate

Even more C++ content at both Tech Edshttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=8d2b53e5-a15d-41d5-a0b8-1aad628f0017http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/EvenMoreCContentAtBothTechEds.aspx
Tue, 29 May 2012 21:31:56 GMT<p>
I've been putting my schedule together for the talks I want to attend at <a href="http://northamerica.msteched.com/">Tech
Ed North America</a> and <a href="http://europe.msteched.com/">Tech Ed Europe</a> this
year. While I wasn't looking, a bunch more C++ content was added.<br>
<br>
In Orlando:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
PRC08, my all day Sunday precon: <a href="http://northamerica.msteched.com/topic/details/2012/PRC08">C++
in Visual Studio 11: Modern, Readable, Safe, Fast</a>
</li>
<li>
DEV316, Wednesday at 8:30 am: <a href="http://northamerica.msteched.com/topic/details/2012/DEV316">Application
Lifecycle Management Tools for C++ in Visual Studio 11</a> by Rong Lu<br>
</li>
<li>
DEV334, Wednesday at 5:00 pm: <a href="http://northamerica.msteched.com/topic/details/2012/DEV334">C++
Accelerated Massive Parallelism in Visual C++ 11</a> by me</li>
<li>
DEV322, Thursday at 4:30 pm: <a href="http://northamerica.msteched.com/topic/details/2012/DEV322">Building
Windows 8 Metro style Apps with Visual C++ 11</a> by Raman Sharma&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<p>
Plus some language agnostic sessions that chose to put C++ in their session descriptions,
which is a new thing these days.
</p>
<p>
Now as it happens, Tech Ed North America is <a href="http://northamerica.msteched.com/blog/2012/05/25/TechEd-North-America-2012-is-sold-out">sold
out</a>, so if you're not registered yet, you have three choices: join the waiting
list, watch these sessions online, or get your boss to agree to a slightly larger
T&amp;E budget and head to Tech Ed Europe in Amsterdam just two weeks later. There
we will have:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
PRC08, my all day Monday precon: C++ in Visual Studio 11: Modern, Readable, Safe,
Fast</li>
<li>
DEV316, Tuesday at 4:30 pm: Application Lifecycle Management Tools for C++ in Visual
Studio 11 by Rong Lu</li>
<li>
DEV368, Wednesday at 2:45 pm: Visual C++ and the Native Renaissance by Steve Teixeira</li>
<li>
DEV322, Thursday at 8:30 am: Building Windows 8 Metro style Apps with Visual C++ 11
by Rong Lu</li>
<li>
DEV367, Thursday at 4:30: Building Windows 8 Metro Style Apps With C++ by Steve Teixeira<br>
</li>
<li>
DEV334, Friday at 1:00 pm: C++ Accelerated Massive Parallelism in Visual C++ 11 by
me<br>
</li>
</ul>
<p>
(Europe doesn't have direct links to the sessions, but they do allow links to the <a href="http://europe.msteched.com/Sessions?q=C%2B%2B">search
for C++</a>.) I'll have to miss Steve's talk because <a href="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SpeakingAtTheBelgiumCUsersGroup.aspx">Rong
and I are going to Belgium</a>, so that one I'll be watching online.&nbsp;
</p>
<p>
One way or another, please attend or watch these sessions. There's a lot of new stuff
happening!
</p>
<p>
Kate<br>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=8d2b53e5-a15d-41d5-a0b8-1aad628f0017" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=8d2b53e5-a15d-41d5-a0b8-1aad628f0017C++Client DevelopmentConcurrencySeen and RecommendedSpeakingTravelVisual Studio 11Windows 8http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=7d939d85-46ac-45dd-99df-2ede5a662d37http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=7d939d85-46ac-45dd-99df-2ede5a662d37Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=7d939d85-46ac-45dd-99df-2ede5a662d37http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=7d939d85-46ac-45dd-99df-2ede5a662d37
I am having a very lucky year. I've been
nominated and accepted as a judge at
the Worldwide finals of the Imagine Cup. I love being around students, and everything
I've heard about Imagine Cup tells me that the energy, excitement, and creativity
is marvelous to be part of. While I'm there, I decided to stay an extra day (July
11th) so I can offer my one-day C++ training to those who can't make it to Tech Ed
in Orlando or Amsterdam. Here's what I'll cover:

Modern C++ with the Standard Library

Application Lifecycle Management for Visual C++ 11

Leveraging Lambdas for the PPL and C++ AMP

Best practices for C++ developers today

This is not a free session, but the price is even lower than the Tech Ed precons since
I don't have travel expenses to get down there and see you all. If you live in Australia,
please register and
take advantage of this chance to come and learn what's been going on with C++ while
you weren't looking! And if you don't, I'd appreciate it if you could spread the word
to those who do.

Kate

Another opportunity for all-day C++ traininghttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=7d939d85-46ac-45dd-99df-2ede5a662d37http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/AnotherOpportunityForAlldayCTraining.aspx
Tue, 29 May 2012 01:04:29 GMTI am having a very lucky year. I've been nominated and accepted as a <a href="http://www.imaginecup.com/CompetitionsContent/JudgeBio.aspx">judge </a>at
the Worldwide finals of the Imagine Cup. I love being around students, and everything
I've heard about Imagine Cup tells me that the energy, excitement, and creativity
is marvelous to be part of. While I'm there, I decided to stay an extra day (July
11th) so I can offer my one-day C++ training to those who can't make it to Tech Ed
in Orlando or Amsterdam. Here's what I'll cover:<br>
<ul>
<li>
Modern C++ with the Standard Library
<br>
</li>
<li>
Application Lifecycle Management for Visual C++ 11</li>
<li>
Leveraging Lambdas for the PPL and C++ AMP</li>
<li>
Best practices for C++ developers today</li>
</ul>
<p>
This is not a free session, but the price is even lower than the Tech Ed precons since
I don't have travel expenses to get down there and see you all. If you live in Australia,
please <a href="http://www.ssw.com.au/ssw/events/Training/VS-Dev-11.aspx">register</a> and
take advantage of this chance to come and learn what's been going on with C++ while
you weren't looking! And if you don't, I'd appreciate it if you could spread the word
to those who do.
</p>
<p>
Kate<br>
</p>
<p>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=7d939d85-46ac-45dd-99df-2ede5a662d37" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=7d939d85-46ac-45dd-99df-2ede5a662d37C++Client DevelopmentConsulting LifeSeen and RecommendedSpeakingTravelVisual Studio 11http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=c860fbc4-725f-4a9a-9119-a1bc1740877fhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=c860fbc4-725f-4a9a-9119-a1bc1740877fKate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=c860fbc4-725f-4a9a-9119-a1bc1740877fhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=c860fbc4-725f-4a9a-9119-a1bc1740877f
This report is well overdue, I know. On
April 17th I spoke at the first meeting of the Toronto C++ User Group! The room was
PACKED:

And as you can see, there's quite an age range represented. The space was provided
by bNotions. It was lovely and airy, and I was thrilled to hear their commitment to
community across a variety of technologies:

Once I got started, my challenge was to give the one hour version of this talk, and
not the six-hour one I plan to do at my
Tech Ed precons in June. Here I am in action (thanks Eran for wandering the room
with my camera throughout the talk) explaining the new ranged-based for:

The next meeting will be shared with the North Toronto .NET User Group, covering Windows
8 development in native C++. Yes, the .NET folks want to hear about this, too!
I'll see you there June 4th, right?

KateToronto C++ User Group Updatehttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=c860fbc4-725f-4a9a-9119-a1bc1740877fhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/TorontoCUserGroupUpdate.aspx
Sun, 27 May 2012 00:36:18 GMTThis report is well overdue, I know. On April 17th I spoke at the first meeting of the Toronto C++ User Group! The room was PACKED:<br>
<br>
<p>
</p>
<img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/audience.jpg" border="0">
<br>
<br>
And as you can see, there's quite an age range represented. The space was provided
by bNotions. It was lovely and airy, and I was thrilled to hear their commitment to
community across a variety of technologies:<br>
<br>
<img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/bnotions2.jpg" border="0">
<br>
<br>
Once I got started, my challenge was to give the one hour version of this talk, and
not the six-hour one I plan to do at <a href="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/TheTechEdPreconsWillNotBeRecorded.aspx">my
Tech Ed precons</a> in June. Here I am in action (thanks Eran for wandering the room
with my camera throughout the talk) explaining the new ranged-based for:<br>
<br>
<br>
<img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/range%20for.jpg" border="0">
<br>
<br>
The next meeting will be shared with the North Toronto .NET User Group, covering <a href="http://www.meetup.com/Toronto-CPP-User-Group/events/64618032/">Windows
8 development in native C++</a>. Yes, the .NET folks want to hear about this, too!
I'll see you there June 4th, right?<br>
<br>
Kate<br>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=c860fbc4-725f-4a9a-9119-a1bc1740877f" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=c860fbc4-725f-4a9a-9119-a1bc1740877fC++INETASeen and RecommendedSpeakingVisual Studio 11Windows 8http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=0804da62-a24a-40d3-bb8c-8d7f63773eb4http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=0804da62-a24a-40d3-bb8c-8d7f63773eb4Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=0804da62-a24a-40d3-bb8c-8d7f63773eb4http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=0804da62-a24a-40d3-bb8c-8d7f63773eb4
So much C++ news going on lately. Time
to clear my queue:

I updated my C++
Windows 8 Development course for the Consumer Preview of Windows 8. There were
a few breaking changes, so if you're working on a Windows 8 app, take a look through
it.

Then there's C++ AMP - the topic of the book I'm
spending all my time writing. They're
hiring. This is a great opportunity for the right developer.

Oh, and James McNellis spent the last however-many-months answering the question "hey,
if native WinRT has all this metadata about types, could you leverage that to implement
reflection for native code?" Which for some people was a rhetorical question or interesting
thing to muse about, but he went
and did it. Incredibly cool.

It's hard to keep up with it all! Especially when I'm on a book deadline :-)

Kate

News, links, interviews, it's all good - and it's all C++http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=0804da62-a24a-40d3-bb8c-8d7f63773eb4http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/NewsLinksInterviewsItsAllGoodAndItsAllC.aspx
Fri, 11 May 2012 02:06:29 GMTSo much C++ news going on lately. Time to clear my queue:<br>
<br>
<ul>
<li>
I updated my <a href="http://www.pluralsight-training.net/microsoft/Courses/TableOfContents?courseName=win8-cpp">C++
Windows 8 Development course </a>for the Consumer Preview of Windows 8. There were
a few breaking changes, so if you're working on a Windows 8 app, take a look through
it.</li>
<li>
I'm part of a group working on a Windows 8 app in C++ and XAML called Hilo, inspired
by the Windows 7 Hilo application. You can read more about it on <a href="http://scottdensmore.typepad.com/blog/2012/04/hilo-for-windows-8-c-and-xaml.html">Scott
Densmore's blog</a>, the <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/nativeconcurrency/archive/2012/05/07/check-out-hilo-for-windows-8.aspx">Parallel
Programming in Native Code blog</a>, and <a href="http://hilo.codeplex.com/">the Codeplex
site</a>. There's another <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ukmsdn/archive/2012/05/02/developing-metro-apps-using-c-cx-for-c-developers.aspx">related
blog entry</a>, too.<br>
</li>
<li>
There are Windows 8 development camps going on all over the place, but most of them
are in managed code. There's a <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2012/04/24/10297389.aspx">native
C++ one happening in Redmond on May 18th</a>, and <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2012/05/07/10301902.aspx">it's
going to be live streamed</a>.</li>
<li>
Don't forget my <a href="http://www.pluralsight-training.net/microsoft/Courses/TableOfContents?courseName=adv-cpp">Advanced
Topics in C++ course</a>. I did <a href="http://blog.pluralsight.com/2012/05/09/meet-the-author-kate-gregory-on-c-advanced-topics/">an
interview</a> about it recently.</li>
<li>
Then there's C++ AMP - the topic of <a href="http://www.gregcons.com/cppamp">the book</a> I'm
spending all my time writing. <a temp_href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/nativeconcurrency/archive/2012/05/10/the-c-amp-dev- team-is-hiring.aspx " href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/nativeconcurrency/archive/2012/05/10/the-c-amp-dev-%20%20team-is-hiring.aspx%20">They're
hiring</a>. This is a great opportunity for the right developer.</li>
<li>
Oh, and James McNellis spent the last however-many-months answering the question "hey,
if native WinRT has all this metadata about types, could you leverage that to implement
reflection for native code?" Which for some people was a rhetorical question or interesting
thing to muse about, but he <a href="http://seaplusplus.com/2012/04/26/cxxreflect-native-reflection-for-the-windows-runtime/">went
and did it</a>.&nbsp; Incredibly cool.</li>
</ul>
<p>
It's hard to keep up with it all! Especially when I'm on a book deadline :-)
</p>
<p>
Kate<br>
</p>
<p>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=0804da62-a24a-40d3-bb8c-8d7f63773eb4" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=0804da62-a24a-40d3-bb8c-8d7f63773eb4C++Client DevelopmentConsulting LifeSeen and RecommendedVisual Studio 11Windows 8http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=eee4e732-1e46-46c7-8a89-8739e4888910http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=eee4e732-1e46-46c7-8a89-8739e4888910Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=eee4e732-1e46-46c7-8a89-8739e4888910http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=eee4e732-1e46-46c7-8a89-8739e4888910

How's this for a renaissance? People are starting C++ user groups!

The Jerusalem .NET/C++ User Group will cover both topics. They've had their first
meeting already.

The Central Ohio C++ User Group has also had its first
meeting and will meet monthly.

In Austin Texas they're calling it the C++
Meetup and the description sounds a lot like a user group

It's so much fun to see this excitement springing up. There seem to be two popular
topics for first meetings: either "What's new in C++ 11" or "Writing Windows 8 Apps".
I think these two things arriving together - the huge language and library improvements
(and the unexpected synergy of the language changes and the library changes) with
the chance to write for Windows 8 in C++and XAML - is producing much more interest
than there used to be.

And now the fun is spreading to Toronto! No, I'm not founding the group - I'm surely
not the only C++ developer in Toronto after all. But I am honoured to be speaking
at the first event on April
17th right downtown (pretty much Yonge and Bloor.) I'd love to dive deep into C++
AMP, or show how the Consumer Preview of Windows 8 is easier to code for, but I think
I should begin at the beginning, so my talk is titled What happened in C++ 11 and
why do I care? and has this abstract:

C++, both
the language and the libraries that come with every compiler, is defined by an ISO
standard. The latest version of the standard, generally known as C++ 11 after its
approval last fall, was optimistically called C++0x throughout the multi-year process
that led to its adoption. Many of the language changes (new keywords, new punctuation,
new rules) and library changes (genuinely smart pointers, threading, and more) have
already been implemented by vendors who were following the standards process closely.

In this session Kate will introduce and demonstrate many
of the highlights of C++11 including lambdas, auto, shared_ptr, and unique_ptr. These
are all supported in Microsoft’s Visual Studio 2010. You can see how to make your
code more readable and expressive, easier to update, more correct (less bugs and memory
leaks) and faster, not by trading off among those possible constraints but by adopting
modern C++ which gives you improvements in all four areas at once. If you’ve been
ignoring the Standard Library, for example, you must see how lambdas make all the
difference and open a world of productivity to you.

A sneak peek of the next version of Visual Studio will show
you even more C++11 goodness.

If you've looked at my
Pluralsight courses, you'll know that my biggest challenge is going to be fitting
this into an hour plus Q&A. This will be an overview, an overture if you like,
and should whet your appetite for the meetings to come!

Please register as soon as you
can, please spread the word, and I hope to see you there!

Kate

C++ User Group in Torontohttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=eee4e732-1e46-46c7-8a89-8739e4888910http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CUserGroupInToronto.aspx
Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:29:02 GMT<p>
How's this for a renaissance? People are starting C++ user groups!
</p>
<ul>
<li>
The Jerusalem .NET/C++ User Group will cover both topics. They've had their <a href="http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/sasha/archive/2012/03/25/slides-from-the-first-jerusalem-net-c-meeting.aspx">first
meeting</a> already.</li>
<li>
The Central Ohio C++ User Group has also had its <a href="http://voidnish.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/announcing-the-central-ohio-c-user-group/">first
meeting</a> and will meet monthly.</li>
<li>
In Austin Texas they're calling it the <a href="http://www.meetup.com/The-Austin-C-C-Meetup-Group/">C++
Meetup</a> and the description sounds a lot like a user group</li>
<li>
The <a href="http://becpp.org/blog/2012/02/22/first-becpp-ug-meeting-planned/">Belgian
C++ User Group</a> has its first meeting in April</li>
</ul>
<p>
It's so much fun to see this excitement springing up. There seem to be two popular
topics for first meetings: either "What's new in C++ 11" or "Writing Windows 8 Apps".
I think these two things arriving together - the huge language and library improvements
(and the unexpected synergy of the language changes and the library changes) with
the chance to write for Windows 8 in C++and XAML - is producing much more interest
than there used to be.
</p>
<p>
And now the fun is spreading to Toronto! No, I'm not founding the group - I'm surely
not the only C++ developer in Toronto after all. But I am honoured to be speaking
at <a href="http://www.dotnetcourses.ca/events.html">the first event</a> on April
17th right downtown (pretty much Yonge and Bloor.) I'd love to dive deep into C++
AMP, or show how the Consumer Preview of Windows 8 is easier to code for, but I think
I should begin at the beginning, so my talk is titled <b>What happened in C++ 11 and
why do I care?</b> and has this abstract:
</p>
<p>
</p>
<div style="DISPLAY: block" class="paragraph editable-text"><blockquote>C++, both
the language and the libraries that come with every compiler, is defined by an ISO
standard. The latest version of the standard, generally known as C++ 11 after its
approval last fall, was optimistically called C++0x throughout the multi-year process
that led to its adoption. Many of the language changes (new keywords, new punctuation,
new rules) and library changes (genuinely smart pointers, threading, and more) have
already been implemented by vendors who were following the standards process closely.<br>
</blockquote><blockquote>In this session Kate will introduce and demonstrate many
of the highlights of C++11 including lambdas, auto, shared_ptr, and unique_ptr. These
are all supported in Microsoft’s Visual Studio 2010. You can see how to make your
code more readable and expressive, easier to update, more correct (less bugs and memory
leaks) and faster, not by trading off among those possible constraints but by adopting
modern C++ which gives you improvements in all four areas at once. If you’ve been
ignoring the Standard Library, for example, you must see how lambdas make all the
difference and open a world of productivity to you.
<br>
</blockquote><blockquote>A sneak peek of the next version of Visual Studio will show
you even more C++11 goodness.<br>
<hr style="WIDTH: 100%; VISIBILITY: hidden; CLEAR: both">
</blockquote>If you've looked at <a href="http://www.pluralsight-training.net/microsoft/Authors/Details?handle=kate-gregory">my
Pluralsight courses</a>, you'll know that my biggest challenge is going to be fitting
this into an hour plus Q&amp;A. This will be an overview, an overture if you like,
and should whet your appetite for the meetings to come!<br>
<br>
Please <a href="http://www.dotnetcourses.ca/events.html">register</a> as soon as you
can, please spread the word, and I hope to see you there!<br>
<br>
Kate<br>
</div>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=eee4e732-1e46-46c7-8a89-8739e4888910" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=eee4e732-1e46-46c7-8a89-8739e4888910C++Canadian ColourConcurrencyConsulting LifeSeen and RecommendedSpeakingVisual Studio 11Visual Studio 2010Windows 8http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=a7521f08-0eb4-458b-abbd-628c508e16fchttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=a7521f08-0eb4-458b-abbd-628c508e16fcKate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=a7521f08-0eb4-458b-abbd-628c508e16fchttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=a7521f08-0eb4-458b-abbd-628c508e16fc
People keep on releasing interviews with
me. If you're willing to listen to them, I'm more than willing to keep on talking.
There's remarkably little overlap in all of these.

On The Tablet Show,
Richard and Carl (yes, that Richard and Carl)
asked me about C++ in this wacky new world of Windows 8. We had the usual freewheeling
conversation and covered a lot of ground in 49 minutes.

For PluralSight, Fritz asked
me questions about my latest course, and the industry in general. This one's just
ten minutes, and there's a transcript if you'd rather read than listen.

Kate

More Interviews! The Tablet Show, PluralSight meet the authorhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=a7521f08-0eb4-458b-abbd-628c508e16fchttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/MoreInterviewsTheTabletShowPluralSightMeetTheAuthor.aspx
Wed, 14 Mar 2012 19:56:58 GMTPeople keep on releasing interviews with me. If you're willing to listen to them, I'm more than willing to keep on talking. There's remarkably little overlap in all of these.<br>
<br>
On <a href="http://www.thetabletshow.com/default.aspx?showNum=23">The Tablet Show</a>,
Richard and Carl (yes, <a href="http://dotnetrocks.com/">that </a>Richard and Carl)
asked me about C++ in this wacky new world of Windows 8. We had the usual freewheeling
conversation and covered a lot of ground in 49 minutes.<br>
<br>
For PluralSight, <a href="http://blog.pluralsight.com/2012/03/14/meet-the-author-kate-gregory-on-c-fundamentals-part-2/">Fritz </a>asked
me questions about my latest course, and the industry in general. This one's just
ten minutes, and there's a transcript if you'd rather read than listen.<br>
<br>
Kate<br>
<p>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=a7521f08-0eb4-458b-abbd-628c508e16fc" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=a7521f08-0eb4-458b-abbd-628c508e16fcC++Consulting LifeSeen and RecommendedSpeakingVisual Studio 11Visual Studio 2010Windows 8http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=417d5b68-e602-4e3c-8075-b869326034d3http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=417d5b68-e602-4e3c-8075-b869326034d3Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=417d5b68-e602-4e3c-8075-b869326034d3http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=417d5b68-e602-4e3c-8075-b869326034d3
It's been a week-and-a-bit that the beta
of Visual Studio 11 has been out. I'm using it more than Visual Studio 2010 at the
moment - in both Windows 7 and Windows 8, and for C++ projects exclusively at the
moment. (Say what you will about the C++ Renaissance, but the fraction of my consulting,
writing, and coding that is C++ has taken a major uptick in the last 6 or so
months.) I'm getting used to the look, and I'm certainly motivated to use more keyboard
shortcuts :-)

Herb has a nice blog
post that summarizes the C++ features in this release. You can read the details
there, I'll just summarize briefly:

The continuation (.then) syntax of PPL, which makes WinRT asynchronicity much more
readable.

Windows 8 - both C++/CX and WinRL

And there will be more coming, sooner than "Visual Studio 12" whenever that might
be. There will be out of band releases with more goodies as they get finished. If
you care what gets done (and released) in what order, you can tell
the team. I took the survey myself - I care about uniform initialization, defaulted
constructors, and then some other bits and pieces at lower priority. Since they aren't
just going to gather them all up and release them a few years from now, order matters.
Share your opinion, and you're more likely to get what you want.

Visual Studio 11 and C++http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=417d5b68-e602-4e3c-8075-b869326034d3http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/VisualStudio11AndC.aspx
Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:09:18 GMTIt's been a week-and-a-bit that the beta of Visual Studio 11 has been out. I'm using it more than Visual Studio 2010 at the moment - in both Windows 7 and Windows 8, and for C++ projects exclusively at the moment. (Say what you will about the C++ Renaissance, but the fraction of my consulting, writing, and coding that is C++ has taken a major uptick in the last&nbsp; 6 or so months.) I'm getting used to the look, and I'm certainly motivated to use more keyboard shortcuts :-)<br>
<br>
Herb has <a href="http://herbsutter.com/2012/02/29/vc11-beta-on-feb-29/">a nice blog
post</a> that summarizes the C++ features in this release. You can read the details
there, I'll just summarize briefly:<br>
<ul>
<li>
Complete Standard Library for C++ 11. Especially the async and threads stuff. Standard!</li>
<li>
Some more language C++ 11 features. Range for is the big one here.
<br>
</li>
<li>
C++ AMP. You know <a href="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CAMPILikeItSoMuchImDoingABookOnIt.aspx">I
care</a> about this one!</li>
<li>
The continuation (.then) syntax of PPL, which makes WinRT asynchronicity much more
readable.</li>
<li>
Windows 8 - both C++/CX and WinRL</li>
</ul>
<p>
And there will be more coming, sooner than "Visual Studio 12" whenever that might
be. There will be out of band releases with more goodies as they get finished. If
you care what gets done (and released) in what order, you can <a href="https://illumeweb.smdisp.net/collector/Survey.ashx?Name=mscpp11">tell
the team</a>. I took the survey myself - I care about uniform initialization, defaulted
constructors, and then some other bits and pieces at lower priority. Since they aren't
just going to gather them all up and release them a few years from now, order matters.
Share your opinion, and you're more likely to get what you want.<br>
</p>
<p>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=417d5b68-e602-4e3c-8075-b869326034d3" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=417d5b68-e602-4e3c-8075-b869326034d3C++Seen and RecommendedVisual Studio 11Windows 8http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=a2a51ad1-0832-447d-a373-2380ca38899ahttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=a2a51ad1-0832-447d-a373-2380ca38899aKate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=a2a51ad1-0832-447d-a373-2380ca38899ahttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=a2a51ad1-0832-447d-a373-2380ca38899a

Recently the Tech Ed people interviewed me for a profile that is now live. You can read
it on their blog. We are all starting to work our way towards being ready for
June. The content catalogs are partially public for both Tech
Ed North America and Tech Ed Europe.
If you search on C++, you'll find more than just my precon, by the way.

North America:

Europe:

Who is giving those talks? Well I am doing the precons in both places - that's official.
And I wrote the abstracts for the other two talks, so I'm pretty sure I'm giving those
too. I would love to see you there. And if you have colleagues who are coming to Tech
Ed who really don't "get" why C++ is different these days, please encourage them to
join me for the all-day precon that answers precisely that question.

Kate

C++ and Tech Ed - North America and Europehttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=a2a51ad1-0832-447d-a373-2380ca38899ahttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CAndTechEdNorthAmericaAndEurope.aspx
Sun, 11 Mar 2012 18:48:45 GMT<p>
Recently the Tech Ed people interviewed me for a profile that is now live. You can <a href="http://northamerica.msteched.com/blog/2012/03/09/Meet-TechEd-Pre_Con-Speaker-Kate-Gregory">read
it on their blog</a>. We are all starting to work our way towards being ready for
June. The content catalogs are partially public for both <a href="http://northamerica.msteched.com/contentcatalog?ck=no">Tech
Ed North America</a> and <a href="http://europe.msteched.com/Sessions">Tech Ed Europe</a>.
If you search on C++, you'll find more than just my precon, by the way.
</p>
<p>
North America:<br>
<img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/tena%20cpp.jpg" border="0">
</p>
<p>
Europe:<br>
<img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/tee%20cpp.jpg" border="0">
</p>
<p>
Who is giving those talks? Well I am doing the precons in both places - that's official.
And I wrote the abstracts for the other two talks, so I'm pretty sure I'm giving those
too. I would love to see you there. And if you have colleagues who are coming to Tech
Ed who really don't "get" why C++ is different these days, please encourage them to
join me for the all-day precon that answers precisely that question.
</p>
<p>
Kate
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=a2a51ad1-0832-447d-a373-2380ca38899a" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=a2a51ad1-0832-447d-a373-2380ca38899aC++Seen and RecommendedSpeakingTravelVisual Studio 11http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=2b88f7a0-5e0d-4418-8f08-8f8b837e4298http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=2b88f7a0-5e0d-4418-8f08-8f8b837e4298Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=2b88f7a0-5e0d-4418-8f08-8f8b837e4298http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=2b88f7a0-5e0d-4418-8f08-8f8b837e42981

I had a real blast writing this - while I was editing it I could hear my own enjoyment
of parts of it. I hope you enjoy it too. A Pluralsight subscription is
such a bargain - buy one for the topics you simply MUST learn for work, then use it
on your own time to learn all those other things that you think you might benefit
from. (I recommend Annual Plus - $500 gets you the sample code and offline viewing,
all you can learn for a year.) Whether C++ is "must learn for work" or "I hear it's
different know, wonder if it could help me" for you, I hope you find it helpful. Please
let me know!

Kate

Advanced C++ course now live on Pluralsighthttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=2b88f7a0-5e0d-4418-8f08-8f8b837e4298http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/AdvancedCCourseNowLiveOnPluralsight.aspx
Sat, 10 Mar 2012 19:36:17 GMT<p>
I've been working on another C++ course for Pluralsight to complement the <a href="http://www.pluralsight-training.net/microsoft/Courses/TableOfContents?courseName=win8-cpp">C++
WinRT/Windows 8/Metro</a> course I did as well as the two-part C++ Fundamentals course
(<a href="http://www.pluralsight-training.net/microsoft/Courses/TableOfContents?courseName=cpp-fundamentals">part
1</a>, <a href="http://www.pluralsight-training.net/microsoft/Courses/TableOfContents?courseName=cppfund2">part
2</a>). It's <a href="http://www.pluralsight-training.net/microsoft/Courses/TableOfContents?courseName=adv-cpp">finished
and live</a>!
</p>
<p>
The topics I cover are:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
Avoid Manual Memory Management</li>
<li>
Use Lambdas</li>
<li>
Use Standard Containers</li>
<li>
Use Standard Algorithms</li>
<li>
Embrace Move Semantics</li>
<li>
Follow Style Rules</li>
<li>
Consider the PImpl Idiom</li>
<li>
Stop Writing C With Classes</li>
</ul>
<p>
I had a real blast writing this - while I was editing it I could hear my own enjoyment
of parts of it. I hope you enjoy it too. A Pluralsight <a href="http://www.pluralsight-training.net/microsoft/Products/Individual">subscription </a>is
such a bargain - buy one for the topics you simply MUST learn for work, then use it
on your own time to learn all those other things that you think you might benefit
from. (I recommend Annual Plus - $500 gets you the sample code and offline viewing,
all you can learn for a year.) Whether C++ is "must learn for work" or "I hear it's
different know, wonder if it could help me" for you, I hope you find it helpful. Please
let me know!
</p>
<p>
Kate<br>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=2b88f7a0-5e0d-4418-8f08-8f8b837e4298" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=2b88f7a0-5e0d-4418-8f08-8f8b837e4298C++Client DevelopmentConsulting LifeMentoringSeen and RecommendedSpeakinghttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=38832443-1d45-4c20-85c4-fc827b85236ehttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=38832443-1d45-4c20-85c4-fc827b85236eKate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=38832443-1d45-4c20-85c4-fc827b85236ehttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=38832443-1d45-4c20-85c4-fc827b85236e1
I've been excited about C++ AMP since it
was first announced back
in June. What's C++ AMP? It stands for Accelerated Massive Parallelism and it's about
harnessing thousands of cores on accelerators like GPUs. You can speed up some applications
by a factor of 10 or more. Not 10%, 10x. And you don't have to learn some C-like language,
you get to work in C++. It's done almost entirely with libraries, which means you
can use C++ AMP from a variety of applications, including Metro apps for Windows 8.

If you check my
Concurrency category you'll see I've been writing code (and words) for months
now. I just haven't been putting those words here on my blog. Instead, they're going
into a book, for Microsoft Press! Soon, I will have some chapter drafts available
for review. If you're interested, I've set up a page
with some details, and some links for those who want to learn more.

Dive in! There's a lot to learn. And plenty of samples to play with. I'll post updates
here as I go.

Kate

C++ AMP - I like it so much, I'm doing a book on it!http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=38832443-1d45-4c20-85c4-fc827b85236ehttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CAMPILikeItSoMuchImDoingABookOnIt.aspx
Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:48:48 GMTI've been excited about C++ AMP since it was first <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2011/06/15/introducing-amp.aspx">announced </a>back
in June. What's C++ AMP? It stands for Accelerated Massive Parallelism and it's about
harnessing thousands of cores on accelerators like GPUs. You can speed up some applications
by a factor of 10 or more. Not 10%, 10x. And you don't have to learn some C-like language,
you get to work in C++. It's done almost entirely with libraries, which means you
can use C++ AMP from a variety of applications, including Metro apps for Windows 8.
<br>
<br>
If you check <a href="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CategoryView.aspx?category=Concurrency">my
Concurrency category</a> you'll see I've been writing code (and words) for months
now. I just haven't been putting those words here on my blog. Instead, they're going
into a book, for Microsoft Press! Soon, I will have some chapter drafts available
for review. If you're interested, I've set up a <a href="http://www.gregcons.com/cppamp">page
with some details</a>, and some links for those who want to learn more.<br>
<br>
There's increasing media coverage, including <a href="http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2012/02/microsoft-publishes-fancy-pants-heterogeneous-parallel-gpgpu-c-amp-specification.ars?comments=1#comments-bar">Peter
Bright at ars technica</a> and <a href="http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/Microsoft-Gives-C-Developers-Compute-Power-of-the-GPU-769755/?kc=rss&amp;utm_source=twitterfeed&amp;utm_medium=twitter">Darryl
Taft at eWeek</a>, and last week the <a href="http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/0/E/40EA02D8-23A7-4BD2-AD3A-0BFFFB640F28/CppAMPLanguageAndProgrammingModel.pdf">spec</a> was <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/nativeconcurrency/archive/2012/02/03/c-amp-open-spec-published.aspx">released
to the public</a> under the Microsoft Community Promise license. This means other
compiler vendors can implement C++ AMP in their own compilers, allowing even more
developers access to heterogeneous hardware and massive speedups for data parallel
calculations. Herb Sutter mentioned it in <a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/GoingNative/GoingNative-2012/C-11-VC-11-and-Beyond">the
Day 2 keynote</a> at GoingNative, <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2012/02/03/10263262.aspx">the
Visual C++ Blog</a> included a link, and <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/somasegar/archive/2012/02/03/c-amp-open-specification.aspx">Soma
blogged about it</a> too.<br>
<br>
Dive in! There's a lot to learn. And plenty of samples to play with. I'll post updates
here as I go.<br>
<br>
Kate<br>
<p>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=38832443-1d45-4c20-85c4-fc827b85236e" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=38832443-1d45-4c20-85c4-fc827b85236eC++Client DevelopmentConcurrencySeen and RecommendedVisual Studio 11Windows 7Windows 8http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=a243512d-6959-4a7f-b41e-2b65359b9285http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=a243512d-6959-4a7f-b41e-2b65359b9285Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=a243512d-6959-4a7f-b41e-2b65359b9285http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=a243512d-6959-4a7f-b41e-2b65359b92851

The minute this was announced, I knew I had to go.

Two days of "C++ today and tomorrow" with the bright lights of C++ today? Just try
and keep me away! I'm so glad I was there - it was AMAZING and FANTASTIC and just
generally wonderful. For me, personally, seeing so many old friends was a big part
of it. The C++ team, other C++ MVPs, people I went to university with, and so on.
It was also wonderful to see so many young people - including speakers, but also attendees,
who were clearly in their 20s (and a few who were obviously in their teens.) After
Chandler's talk I told someone "we can retire now: the future of C++ is in good hands."
The speakers were not "the usual suspects" at a Microsoft event either. At a panel
at the end of the second day, someone asked about C++ and the cloud and one of the
answers was to indicate three speakers sitting next to each other: "Microsoft guy,
Facebook guy, Google guy. Where isn't C++ in the cloud?" While that was a great
cloud answer, I think it also highlights how inclusive this was - it was a C++ conference
held at Microsoft, not a Microsoft conference.

Some fun quotes I happened to write down:

“if it’s that ugly, it must be good” - Bjarne, on why some newbies imitate horrible
code written long ago by their heroes

And Chandler's talk was very much a 2012 talk, with lolcat-like interjections and
Simpsons references and even a how-agile-is-this update with a picture of Oscar Wilde
in reference to Andrei's earlier off-the-cuff description of some template error messages
(aka template barf) as being "a small novel by Oscar Wilde." The humour level was
very high, much of it self-deprecating - no-one, not even the coiners of the terms,
thinks RAII or SFINAE are
great names, but what the heck, they're the names we use.

Even the little things here were so well done. Herb opened the conference by dedicating
it to Dennis Ritchie, which
I found extraordinarily touching and appropriate. He opened day 2 by celebrating the
20 year anniversary of Microsoft C7 which was C++ 1 for them, with Visual C++
appearing in the next release. There on the podium was the two foot long, 44 pound
box, with multicoloured plusses all over it, in which it shipped.

And what was inside? A lot of books, and a lot of 3.5" floppies (I took this picture
earlier, before the box headed to campus):

There are 5 or 6 floppies in each bag and apparently each bag had a part number of
its own.

This conference was far more than a trip down memory lane, of course. It was a two-day
Valentine from Microsoft to the C++ community, a demonstration of the "new growth"
in modern C++ and the power and capability that is there for those who are prepared
to start using the new features, and a chance for all of us to accelerate the learning
we have to do. I so hope you were able to be there, or to catch the energy by watching
it live and following tweets from those of us who had to share the bon mots and the
fun. But if not, the on-demand videos are almost all there now. Here are the links:

Fair warning: both of Andrei's talks, and the Concepts talk, are hard. This is cool
new stuff that we are all learning about. There is no shame in pausing, rewinding,
and giving something a second listen. Look, Chandler was running through pitfalls
and problems that Clang catches, and showed some code with a problem I couldn't spot.
A few minutes later in the Q&A, Bjarne asked him to clarify just what the problem
was. Made me feel better!

Chances are you won't be able to watch any of these on fast forward, or skip any of
them. So I'm asking you to invest 12 hours of your life to watch all of them. Do it!
You won't regret it!

Kate

PS: They gave us shirts (it's all about the shirts for developers) with real code
on the back and this on the front:

Highly appropriate. Of course, it's not a comeback for those of us who never left.
But still...Gone Native!http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=a243512d-6959-4a7f-b41e-2b65359b9285http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/GoneNative.aspx
Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:19:41 GMT<p>
The minute this was announced, I knew I had to go.
</p>
<p>
<a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/GoingNative/GoingNative-2012"><img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/6f1bfc53-5eb9-4e2c-8b12-f9d295412afe.png" height="151" border="0" width="725"></a>
</p>
<p>
Two days of "C++ today and tomorrow" with the bright lights of C++ today? Just try
and keep me away! I'm so glad I was there - it was AMAZING and FANTASTIC and just
generally wonderful. For me, personally, seeing so many old friends was a big part
of it. The C++ team, other C++ MVPs, people I went to university with, and so on.
It was also wonderful to see so many young people - including speakers, but also attendees,
who were clearly in their 20s (and a few who were obviously in their teens.) After
Chandler's talk I told someone "we can retire now: the future of C++ is in good hands."
The speakers were not "the usual suspects" at a Microsoft event either. At a panel
at the end of the second day, someone asked about C++ and the cloud and one of the
answers was to indicate three speakers sitting next to each other: "Microsoft guy,
Facebook guy, Google guy. Where <b>isn't</b> C++ in the cloud?" While that was a great
cloud answer, I think it also highlights how inclusive this was - it was a C++ conference
held at Microsoft, not a Microsoft conference.
</p>
<p>
Some fun quotes I happened to write down:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
“if it’s that ugly, it must be good” - Bjarne, on why some newbies imitate horrible
code written long ago by their heroes</li>
<li>
“write C-style code, expect C-style errors” - Bjarne again</li>
<li>
“we know where bugs hide” – Bjarne (they hide in large tracts of complicated code)</li>
<li>
"dot dot dot is where the fun begins" - Andrei</li>
<li>
"real code is not supposed to fit on slides" - Andrei</li>
<li>
"this is legal" - Andrei (we needed to be reassured since it rarely looked legal)<br>
</li>
<li>
"if you're using <font face="Courier New">new </font>or <font face="Courier New">delete</font>,
you're doing it wrong" - Herb (it's true!)<br>
</li>
</ul>
<p>
And Chandler's talk was very much a 2012 talk, with lolcat-like interjections and
Simpsons references and even a how-agile-is-this update with a picture of Oscar Wilde
in reference to Andrei's earlier off-the-cuff description of some template error messages
(aka template barf) as being "a small novel by Oscar Wilde." The humour level was
very high, much of it self-deprecating - no-one, not even the coiners of the terms,
thinks <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAII">RAII </a>or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SFINAE">SFINAE </a>are
great names, but what the heck, they're the names we use.
</p>
<p>
Even the little things here were so well done. Herb opened the conference by dedicating
it to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Ritchie">Dennis Ritchie</a>, which
I found extraordinarily touching and appropriate. He opened day 2 by celebrating <a href="http://t.co/BTVLlfCC">the
20 year anniversary of Microsoft C7</a> which was C++ 1 for them, with Visual C++
appearing in the next release. There on the podium was the two foot long, 44 pound
box, with multicoloured plusses all over it, in which it shipped.
<br>
</p>
<p>
<img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/herbwithbox.jpg" border="0">
</p>
<p>
And what was inside? A lot of books, and a lot of 3.5" floppies (I took this picture
earlier, before the box headed to campus):
</p>
<p>
<img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/insidebox.jpg" border="0">
</p>
<p>
There are 5 or 6 floppies in each bag and apparently each bag had a part number of
its own.
<br>
</p>
<p>
This conference was far more than a trip down memory lane, of course. It was a two-day
Valentine from Microsoft to the C++ community, a demonstration of the "new growth"
in modern C++ and the power and capability that is there for those who are prepared
to start using the new features, and a chance for all of us to accelerate the learning
we have to do. I so hope you were able to be there, or to catch the energy by watching
it live and following tweets from those of us who had to share the bon mots and the
fun. But if not, the on-demand videos are almost all there now. Here are the links:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
<strong><a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/GoingNative/GoingNative-2012/Keynote-Bjarne-Stroustrup-Cpp11-Style">Bjarne
Stroustrup</a></strong><a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/GoingNative/GoingNative-2012/Keynote-Bjarne-Stroustrup-Cpp11-Style"><strong>:
C++11 Style</strong></a>
</p>
<p>
<strong><a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/GoingNative/GoingNative-2012/Threads-and-Shared-Variables-in-C-11">Hans
Boehm</a></strong><a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/GoingNative/GoingNative-2012/Threads-and-Shared-Variables-in-C-11"><strong>:
Threads and Shared Variables in C++11</strong></a>
<br>
</p>
<p>
<em></em><strong><a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/GoingNative/GoingNative-2012/STL11-Magic-Secrets">Stephan
T. Lavavej: STL11 – Magic &amp;&amp; Secrets</a></strong>
</p>
<p>
<strong><a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/GoingNative/GoingNative-2012/Variadic-Templates-are-Funadic">Andrei
Alexandrescu</a></strong><a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/GoingNative/GoingNative-2012/Variadic-Templates-are-Funadic"><strong>:
Variadic Templates are Funadic</strong></a>
</p>
<strong><a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/GoingNative/GoingNative-2012/Interactive-Panel-The-Importance-of-Being-Native">Panel:
The Importance of Being Native </a></strong><a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/GoingNative/GoingNative-2012/Interactive-Panel-The-Importance-of-Being-Native">(<strong>Bjarne,
Andrei, Herb, Hans</strong>)</a><strong>&nbsp;</strong>
<p>
</p>
<p>
<strong><a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/GoingNative/GoingNative-2012/C-11-VC-11-and-Beyond" target="_blank">Herb
Sutter</a></strong><a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/GoingNative/GoingNative-2012/C-11-VC-11-and-Beyond" target="_blank">: <strong>C++11,
VC++11 and Beyond</strong></a>
</p>
<p>
<strong><a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/GoingNative/GoingNative-2012/Clang-Defending-C-from-Murphy-s-Million-Monkeys">Chandler
Carruth</a></strong><a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/GoingNative/GoingNative-2012/Clang-Defending-C-from-Murphy-s-Million-Monkeys"><strong>:</strong> <strong>Clang
- Defending C++ from Murphy's Million Monkeys</strong></a><em>
<br>
<br>
<em></em></em><strong><a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/GoingNative/GoingNative-2012/Static-If-I-Had-a-Hammer">Andrei
Alexandrescu: Static If I Had a Hammer</a></strong>
</p>
<p>
<strong><a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/GoingNative/GoingNative-2012/A-Concept-Design-for-C-">Bjarne
Stroustrup and Andrew Sutton: A Concept Design for C++</a></strong>
</p>
<strong><a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/GoingNative/GoingNative-2012/Interactive-Panel-Ask-Us-Anything-">Panel:
Ask Us Anything! </a></strong><a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/GoingNative/GoingNative-2012/Interactive-Panel-Ask-Us-Anything-">(<strong>all
speakers</strong>)</a></blockquote>
<p>
Fair warning: both of Andrei's talks, and the Concepts talk, are hard. This is cool
new stuff that we are all learning about. There is no shame in pausing, rewinding,
and giving something a second listen. Look, Chandler was running through pitfalls
and problems that Clang catches, and showed some code with a problem I couldn't spot.
A few minutes later in the Q&amp;A, Bjarne asked him to clarify just what the problem
was. Made me feel better!
</p>
<p>
Chances are you won't be able to watch any of these on fast forward, or skip any of
them. So I'm asking you to invest 12 hours of your life to watch all of them. Do it!
You won't regret it!
</p>
<p>
Kate
</p>
<p>
PS: They gave us shirts (it's all about the shirts for developers) with real code
on the back and this on the front:
</p>
<img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/gonenative.png" height="408" border="0" width="726">
<br>
<br>
Highly appropriate. Of course, it's not a comeback for those of us who never left.
But still...<br>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=a243512d-6959-4a7f-b41e-2b65359b9285" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=a243512d-6959-4a7f-b41e-2b65359b9285C++Client DevelopmentConsulting LifeMentoringMVPSeen and RecommendedVisual Studio 11http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=640dcb10-4cde-472f-af5a-668f2d4c4839http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=640dcb10-4cde-472f-af5a-668f2d4c4839Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=640dcb10-4cde-472f-af5a-668f2d4c4839http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=640dcb10-4cde-472f-af5a-668f2d4c4839
Perhaps not a great surprise, but today
the precons
for Tech Ed North America were announced and mine is there too. It's well described
in the
previous blog post and I'll be doing the same material at both events. So if Orlando,
June 10th works better for you than Amsterdam, June 25th, terrific and I'll see you
there! Registration is
now open.

Kate

Yes, my C++ Precon will also be at Tech Ed North Americahttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=640dcb10-4cde-472f-af5a-668f2d4c4839http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/YesMyCPreconWillAlsoBeAtTechEdNorthAmerica.aspx
Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:57:42 GMTPerhaps not a great surprise, but today the<a href="http://northamerica.msteched.com/preconferenceseminars?fbid=oKcVjNIkmSS"> precons
for Tech Ed North America</a> were announced and mine is there too. It's well described
in <a href="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/MyCPreconAtTechEd2012Amsterdam.aspx">the
previous blog post</a> and I'll be doing the same material at both events. So if Orlando,
June 10th works better for you than Amsterdam, June 25th, terrific and I'll see you
there! <a href="http://northamerica.msteched.com/registration?p=5">Registration </a>is
now open.<br>
<br>
<p>
<a href="http://northamerica.msteched.com/registration?p=5"><img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/teched2012.jpg" border="0"></a>
</p>
<p>
Kate<br>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=640dcb10-4cde-472f-af5a-668f2d4c4839" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=640dcb10-4cde-472f-af5a-668f2d4c4839C++ConcurrencyMentoringSeen and RecommendedSpeakingVisual Studio 2010http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/Trackback.aspx?guid=859c1bf6-adc6-4cce-973c-4e53ff6db100http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/pingback.aspxhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=859c1bf6-adc6-4cce-973c-4e53ff6db100Kate Gregoryhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=859c1bf6-adc6-4cce-973c-4e53ff6db100http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetEntryCommentsRss?guid=859c1bf6-adc6-4cce-973c-4e53ff6db100
Yay! Today I got news that registration
is open for Tech Ed 2012 in Amsterdam, and with it confirmation that my
preconference has been accepted! This is great news for anyone who loves C++,
because it's a C++ all day preconference! The title is C++ in 2012: Modern, Readable,
Safe, Fast and here's the abstract:

C++ is gaining momentum as a development language, so whether you’ve never
used C++ or stopped using it a decade ago, it may be time to brush up on your skills.
With a new standard release providing new keywords and capabilities, C++ is a featured
language for many of the new Microsoft technologies and enables some amazing speed-ups
of your application using libraries like PPL and C++ AMP. What’s more, Visual Studio
offers tools to native developers that have only been available for managed developers
in earlier versions. This all-day session will show you what all the fuss is about
and give you the skills you need to understand the advantages of C++ today and how
to start applying those benefits to your application.

Now, if you're an experienced and current C++ developer, you may not need to come
to this session. But if you were thinking you needed a refresher, here's a great way
to get one, and at the same time look at some of the cool new stuff that is available
to you once you know C++. If you've never written a line of C++ code in your life,
but you're solid in C# or Java so you know the basic syntax (if, while, etc) you should
be able to follow this session, though it won't teach you all the fiddly bits of C++
syntax and make you a C++ developer from scratch. It should, however, give you the
inspiration you might need to go and learn all that fiddly syntax, and understand
why we have it. I am also hoping there will be a number of relevant breakout sessions
you'll want to attend after getting a taste of what C++ developers can do, though
we have to wait a little longer to find out about those.

I'm still working on the exact content, but my first draft outline looks something
like this:

Modern C++ with the Standard Library (demo of strings, shared pointers)

Application Lifecycle Management for Visual C++ 11

Leveraging Lambdas for the PPL and C++ AMP

Best practices for C++ developers today

This is 9am - 5pm (all day) the Monday before Tech Ed Europe starts, June 25th. You
can register for the precon
and Tech Ed now. And tell your friends! I would love to see a TON of registrations
to ensure continued C++ content at Tech Eds around the world.

Kate

PS: Yes, I know that Tech Ed US is
a few weeks before Tech Ed Europe. You didn't miss the US announcement; you shouldn't
have to wait much longer for it though.

My C++ Precon at Tech Ed 2012 Amsterdamhttp://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=859c1bf6-adc6-4cce-973c-4e53ff6db100http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/MyCPreconAtTechEd2012Amsterdam.aspx
Tue, 10 Jan 2012 01:29:14 GMTYay! Today I got news that registration is open for Tech Ed 2012 in Amsterdam, and with it confirmation that <a href="http://europe.msteched.com/PreCons#PRC08">my
preconference</a> has been accepted! This is great news for anyone who loves C++,
because it's a C++ all day preconference! The title is <b>C++ in 2012: Modern, Readable,
Safe, Fast</b> and here's the abstract:<br>
<br>
<blockquote>C++ is gaining momentum as a development language, so whether you’ve never
used C++ or stopped using it a decade ago, it may be time to brush up on your skills.
With a new standard release providing new keywords and capabilities, C++ is a &nbsp;featured
language for many of the new Microsoft technologies and enables some amazing speed-ups
of your application using libraries like PPL and C++ AMP. What’s more, Visual Studio
offers tools to native developers that have only been available for managed developers
in earlier versions. This all-day session will show you what all the fuss is about
and give you the skills you need to understand the advantages of C++ today and how
to start applying those benefits to your application.<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
Now, if you're an experienced and current C++ developer, you may not need to come
to this session. But if you were thinking you needed a refresher, here's a great way
to get one, and at the same time look at some of the cool new stuff that is available
to you once you know C++. If you've never written a line of C++ code in your life,
but you're solid in C# or Java so you know the basic syntax (if, while, etc) you should
be able to follow this session, though it won't teach you all the fiddly bits of C++
syntax and make you a C++ developer from scratch. It should, however, give you the
inspiration you might need to go and learn all that fiddly syntax, and understand
why we have it. I am also hoping there will be a number of relevant breakout sessions
you'll want to attend after getting a taste of what C++ developers can do, though
we have to wait a little longer to find out about those.<br>
<br>
<br>
<a href="http://europe.msteched.com/Registration"><img src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/teched2012ams.jpg" border="0"></a>
<br>
<br>
I'm still working on the exact content, but my first draft outline looks something
like this:<br>
<ul>
<li>
Modern C++ with the Standard Library (demo of strings, shared pointers)</li>
<li>
Application Lifecycle Management for Visual C++ 11</li>
<li>
Leveraging Lambdas for the PPL and C++ AMP
<br>
</li>
<li>
Best practices for C++ developers today</li>
</ul>
<p>
This is 9am - 5pm (all day) the Monday before Tech Ed Europe starts, June 25th. You
can <a href="http://europe.msteched.com/Registration">register </a>for the precon
and Tech Ed now. And tell your friends! I would love to see a TON of registrations
to ensure continued C++ content at Tech Eds around the world.<br>
</p>
<p>
Kate
</p>
<p>
PS: Yes, I know that <a href="http://northamerica.msteched.com/">Tech Ed US</a> is
a few weeks before Tech Ed Europe. You didn't miss the US announcement; you shouldn't
have to wait much longer for it though.<br>
</p>
<img width="0" height="0" src="http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/aggbug.ashx?id=859c1bf6-adc6-4cce-973c-4e53ff6db100" />http://www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/CommentView.aspx?guid=859c1bf6-adc6-4cce-973c-4e53ff6db100C++ConcurrencyConsulting LifeSeen and RecommendedSpeakingTravelVisual Studio 2010